Lawrence Lek is a London-based artist and filmmaker who unites virtual architecture, video game design, and electronic music into a continuously expanding cinematic universe. He is best known for his immersive installations and films that explore spiritual and existential themes through the lens of science fiction. Often rendered from the point of view of nonhuman characters, his works are noted for their dreamlike narratives and long takes, evocative visual imagery, and preoccupation with technology and memory.

The 24th Biennale of Sydney: Ten Thousand Suns at White Bay Power Station

From 9 March – 10 June 2024, Lawrence Lek presents 'Nepenthe (Summer Palace Ruins)' at the 24th Biennale of Sydney titled 'Ten Thousand Suns'. The gaming installation is presented at the iconic White Bay Power Station, newly renovated for the Biennale. In the words of curators Cosmin Costinaș and Inti Guerrero, "Ten thousand suns in ten thousand tongues. Ten thousand ways to look at all that the sun brings out from the night and at all that remains unlit. There has rarely been a single sun."

Biennale de l'Image en Mouvement 2024 at Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève

From 24 January – 16 May 2024, the celebrated Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement returns to the Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève. For this new edition, curators Nora N. Khan and Andrea Bellini have selected Basel Abbas & Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Alfatih, American Artist, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, Sheila Chukwulozie, Formafantasma, Aziz Hazara, Interspecifics, Lawrence Lek, Shuang Li, Diego Marcon, Lauren Lee McCarthy, Sahej Rahal, Jenna Sutela, and Emmanuel Van der Auwera.

NOX at LAS Art Foundation, Berlin

From 27 October 2023 – 14 January 2024, LAS Art Foundation presents Lawrence Lek’s largest exhibition to date. NOX is an immersive installation that transforms the three floors of Berlin's Kranzler Eck complex into a rehabilitation facility for disobedient self-driving cars. Conceived as a real-life video game, visitors follow the journey of Enigma, a former delivery vehicle who must undergo an intensive therapy programme.

WORLDBUILDING

“Sinofuturism is an invisible movement, a spectre already embedded into a trillion industrial products, a billion individuals, and a million veiled narratives. It is a movement, not based on individuals, but on multiple overlapping flows — flows of populations, of products, and of processes. Because Sinofuturism has arisen without conscious intention or authorship, it is often mistaken for contemporary China. But it is not. It is a science fiction that already exists.”

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

Bonus Levels

Sky Line Europe Mon amour Unreal Estate Berlin Mirror QE3

Nøtel

Pyramid Schemes

'Sinofuturism' Series

Sinofuturism

Geomancer

2065

Play Station

AIDOL

FTSE

Temple

'Smart City' Series

Black Cloud

NOX

Empty Rider

'Nepenthe' Series

"In his ongoing fictional universe, begun in 2016 with his seminal video essay Sinofuturism (1839–2046 AD), Lek explores how the complex interplay between geopolitics and technology shapes a vision of the coming world that conflates China and its diaspora with artificial intelligence. In this and other works, the artist imagines how agency may be restored to the Other: a satellite in Geomancer (2017) wishes to become an artist, while AIDOL (2019) centers on the relationship between a fading pop star and an aspiring AI songwriter. Blurring geographical borders and the delineation between natural and artificial beings, Lek leads viewers to confront contradictions that humanity might face in the near future."

Lawrence Lek

NEWS