In recent years, Korean contemporary art has rapidly expanded its presence within the international art world. Yet within this growing visibility, few artists move beyond market attention to question the contemporary conditions of human sensation and existence itself. Mire Lee occupies a distinctive position precisely at this point.

From April 3 to August 2, 2026, the Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes (IAC), located near Lyon, France, presents《THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE》, a solo exhibition by Mire Lee. The exhibition is presented alongside a collection-based presentation dedicated to Swiss video artist Pipilotti Rist and is curated by Sarah Caillet.
 
The title《THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE》refers to a sensory territory where body and mind collide. In its exhibition text, IAC describes the exhibition as a state in which “sensation precedes words and the intellect loses its role as mediator.” The institution also invokes Dante’s warning at the gates of Hell—“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here”—suggesting that the exhibition asks viewers to relinquish familiar modes of interpretation and rational distance.
 
Mire Lee’s practice has long explored the unstable boundaries between body and machine, organism and industrial structure. Rusted metal frameworks, industrial chains and hoses, motors, lubricants, and flesh-like materials move through her installations as though they were living entities. Yet these movements are never purely mechanical. Her sculptures tremble, breathe, sag, and repeat gestures like exhausted bodies caught within endless cycles. They generate unstable states that oscillate between the human and the nonhuman, life and waste, desire and exhaustion.

IAC describes these sculptures as “body-machines” that are “sometimes alive, sometimes lifeless.” The institution further notes that the works appear to “patiently await visitors, trapped in a hellish routine.” Rust stains, scars, and skin-like surfaces function not merely as formal elements, but as traces of memory and residues of bodies on the verge of disappearance.
 
What makes this exhibition compelling is not simply its presentation of sculptural objects. Rather, Mire Lee reveals how contemporary human sensation and embodiment are being transformed through intensely material experiences. Her hybrid forms—where industrial matter merges with organic imagery—evoke bodies subjected to technological environments, sensory overload, fatigue, and psychological pressure.

Instead of delivering fixed messages, the works compel viewers into visceral encounters. Before they can be intellectually “understood,” the sculptures are physically felt through tension, discomfort, attraction, and repulsion.
 
This sensory structure also resonates strongly with broader tendencies in contemporary international art. Increasingly, contemporary art is moving beyond the direct delivery of political messages or social agendas, returning attention to the question of how human perception itself is changing.
 
Mire Lee’s work acquires its contemporary urgency precisely at this intersection. Her sculptures do not explain narratives directly; instead, they embody the instability, exhaustion, and sensory anxiety of contemporary existence with striking immediacy.

Mire Lee
 
Mire Lee is a Korean sculptor based in Seoul. Through sculptures and installations that combine industrial materials, mechanical systems, and organic structures, she investigates the relationship between the human body and nonhuman systems. Motors, chains, silicone, viscous substances, and metal constructions are transformed into unstable organisms that appear to breathe and move.
 
Over the past several years, Lee has emerged as one of the most internationally recognized Korean contemporary artists. She participated in《The Milk of Dreams》at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022 and has exhibited at major international institutions including the New Museum in New York, Tate Modern in London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Internationally, she is represented by Tina Kim Gallery.
 
Lee’s practice extends beyond conventional sculptural language, positioning itself as a contemporary exploration of how the human body and sensory systems exist within rapidly changing technological and psychological environments.

Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes (IAC)
 
Located in Villeurbanne near Lyon, France, the Institut d’art contemporain (IAC) is one of the country’s leading contemporary art institutions. Since its founding in 1978, it has functioned as an important experimental platform for contemporary art in France and Europe, combining exhibitions, collections, research, and educational programs.
 
Beyond serving as an exhibition venue, IAC has continuously expanded its experimental initiatives through projects such as Space Brain Laboratory, a platform connecting contemporary art with science, philosophy, and neuroscience. In collaboration with the Frac Rhône-Alpes public collection, the institution has consistently introduced significant international contemporary artists and experimental practices.
 
IAC is particularly recognized for supporting experimental practices by emerging and mid-career artists while maintaining a sustained interest in contemporary questions surrounding sensation, the body, technology, and cognition. Mire Lee’s exhibition strongly aligns with this institutional direction.
 
 
Exhibition Information
 
Exhibition Title:《THE (PSYCHO)SOMATIC ZONE》Mire Lee | Pipilotti Rist (IAC Collection)
Dates: April 3 — August 2, 2026
Venue: Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes (IAC), France
Curator: Sarah Caillet
Organized by: Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes
Address: 11 rue Docteur Dolard, 69100 Villeurbanne, France
Website: Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes (IAC)