iThe Metropolitan Museum of ArtUpper East Side
The Genesis Facade Commission: Liu Wei, Speculation
Beijing-based artist Liu Wei (born 1972) inspires visitors to ponder cycles of rupture and resistance for the 2026 Genesis Facade Commission.
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Look up from the Fifth Avenue steps and each of the four niches holds a hand. In Speculation / Λ, a black sphere props up a hand stretching upward, as if trapped in a ruin of bone tissue. In Speculation / G, an outstretched hand lies at the foot of a tower of nails, rawhide and layered metal cutouts.
The works are named for physical constants (Λ, G, c, h). The two flanking the entrance are monumental, the outer two more delicate, all built from fiberglass, steel, bronze and bovine rawhide. Liu Wei says: "Our reality is a puzzle built by time. I want to answer it with a puzzle." A hand reaching up from a black sphere is you gripping the pole on the 6 at 86th Street when the driver brakes.
This is Liu Wei's first major US project. It's free to view from Fifth Avenue until June 8, 2027.
Editor's pick
Beijing-based Liu Wei takes over the Met's Fifth Avenue facade with a work about cycles of rupture and resistance, free to see from the street.
Look for
Speculation / Λ
A black sphere holds up a hand reaching skyward, as if trapped in a ruin of bone tissue.
Speculation / G
An outstretched hand lies at the base of a tower of protruding nails, rawhide and layered geometric metal cutouts.
Speculation / c
One side reads as a premodern saint carved from rock and melted into a scream, the other side has an index finger pointing up.
Speculation / h
A heart-shaped form with grafted fingers that nearly clutch the organ.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want something indoors: these four sculptures sit outside, in the Fifth Avenue facade niches.
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Image credits
9
- The Genesis Facade Commission: Liu Wei, SpeculationCourtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Collection in Focus: Modern European CurrentsPhoto: Ariel Ione Williams, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
- Guggenheim Pop: 1960 to NowCourtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- Taryn Simon | Father Country I Do Love YouCourtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- The Metropolitan Museum of ArtHugo Schneider, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Neue Galerie New YorkFrancesca.hyanna19 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Solomon R. Guggenheim MuseumAjay Suresh, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
- Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design MuseumEpicgenius, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- American Museum of Natural HistoryIngfbruno, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0