Ken Lum

Ken Lum is an artist best known for his post-conceptual art employing various media—primarily photography, sculpture, film and site-specific installations. Lum’s art is concerned with how meanings are assigned to images, texts, and objects throughout everyday life. Lum’s playfully politically-oriented practice takes an acerbic but humorous tone as an entry to a myriad of issues including identity, immigration, language, and spatial politics.
Lum has an extensive art exhibition record that includes Documenta 11, the Venice Biennale, Sao Paolo Biennial, Shanghai Biennale, Carnegie Triennial, Sydney Biennale, Liverpool Biennial, Gwangju Biennale and the Whitney Biennial. Solo exhibitions include Scotiabank Photography Award: Ken Lum at The Image Centre in Toronto, CA; Ken Lum at Magenta Plains, New York, NY; Death and Furniture at the Remai Modern, Saskatoon, CA and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, CA, among many others.

In 2023, Lum was the recipient of the 13th annual Scotiabank Photography Award and the subject of a published book distributed worldwide by Steidl.

Lum’s work is included in permanent collections of Tate, London, UK; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE; RISD Museum, Rhode Island, RI; Museum moderner Kunst stiftung ludwig, Vienna, AT; Helga de Alvear Collection, Madrid, ES; Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, CH; Lilac Milne, Vancouver, CA; FRAC Nord Pas de Calais, Dunkirk, FR; Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Compostela, ES; FRAC Haute Normandie, Rouen, FR; BMO Collection, Toronto, CA; Arco Foundation Collection, Madrid, ES; M+ Museum of Visual Culture, Hong Kong, HK; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, CA; Fundación AMMA Amparo y Manuel, Mexico City, MX; Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, CA; Joanneumsviertel Neue Galerie, Graz, AT; Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, CA; Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich, DE; Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, CH; Walter A Bechtler Foundation, Zurich, CH; Museum Boijmans van-Beuningen, Rotterdam, NL; Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL; Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden, NL; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, CA; Centro de Arte Contemporáneo De Huarte, Navarro, ES; Laumeier Sculpture Park, St Louis, US; Long March Space, Beijing, CN; FRAC Ile de France, le Plateau, Paris, FR; Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, CN; RBC Collection, Toronto, CA.

Lum has also served as a curator for several large-scale exhibitions, including Shanghai Modern: 1919-1945, Sharjah Biennial 7, and Monument Lab: Creative Speculations for Philadelphia. He was a project manager for the exhibition The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa: 1945 to 1994. He was keynote speaker for the 15th Biennale of Sydney in 2006 and the World Museums Conference held at the Shanghai Museum in Shanghai in 2010. He is Co-Founder and Chief Curatorial Advisor for Monument Lab.

A longtime professor, he currently is the Chair of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design in Philadelphia. Lum has published extensively, including a book of his collected writings issued by Concordia University Press (2020) titled Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018.

Born in 1956, Vancouver, Canada
Lives and works in Philadelphia, PA

Education

1985

MFA, Department of Fine Arts, University of British Columbia

1980

BSc, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2024

Scotiabank Photography Award: Ken Lum, The Image Centre in Toronto, CA

2022

Ken Lum, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
Death and Furniture, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, SK and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON

2021

Time. And Again, Middelheim Museum, Antwerp, BE
Sculpture International Rotterdam at Kruisplein, Rotterdam, NL

2018

Necrology, Royale Projects, Los Angeles, CA
The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, CA

2017

Royale Projects at Expo Chicago, Chicago, IL
Art Gallery of Mississauga, Mississauga, ON

2016

L.A. Galerie (Lothar Albrecht), Frankfurt, DE
Richard Rhodes Dupont Projects, Toronto, ON
Window, Artspace, Winnipeg, MB
BASE/Progetti per l’arte, Florence, IT
Espacios Revalados/Changing Places: Torres de tajamar, Siemens Stiftung/Chilean Cultural Council for the Arts, Santiago, CL

2015

Royale Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Vienna Kunsthalle Karlsplatz Public Space, Vienna, AT
Vancouver Especially (A Vancouver Special scaled to its property value in 1973, then increased by 8 fold), 221A Semi Public, 271 Union Street, Vancouver, BC

2014

Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA

2013

Galerie Marc Jancou, New York, NY

2012

Galerie Jancou, Geneva, CH
L.A. Galerie Lothar Albrecht, Frankfurt, DE
Galerie Nelson-Freeman, Paris, FR

2011

Misa Shin Gallery, Tokyo, JP
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024

Another Beautiful Country, USC Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA

2023

Moveables, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
with Wardrobe: Curatorial AIRspace Resident Exhibition 2022–23, Abrons Art Center, New York, NY
Layers of perception,The Pictures Generation and Beyond, Shin Gallery, New York, NY
Art and Design from 1900 to Now, Rhode Island, RI

2022

True Pictures: Contemporary Photography from Canada and the USA, Museum der Moderne – Rupertinum, Salzburg, AT
Working Thought, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA

2021

Individuals, Networks, Expressions, M+ Museum, Hong Kong
Friends and Family, Magenta Plains, New York, NY
New Grit: Art & Philly Now, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
True Pictures: Contemporary Photography from Canada and the USA, Sprengel Museum, Hannover, DE
Children Power, FRAC Ile-de-France, Chateau de Rentilly, Bussy St Martin, FR
Off the Charts, Royale Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Pictures and Promises, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

2020

Thought. Outside. The Western Front, Vancouver, BC
Lost in America, Der Neue Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, DE
Alles Echt!, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, CH
Next Year’s Country, Remai Modern, Saskatoon, SK

2019

Tell me about yesterday tomorrow, Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, Munich, DE
Form, Class & Beauty, Galerie Klemm’s Berlin, Berlin, DE
Collection(s), Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva, CH
Photography in Canada: 1960 – 2000, Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery, Sarnia, ON
Views from the Collection: The Street, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
On Melly Shum, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, NL
Displacement, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC
Come Together, Royale Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Schengen Baroque Pasolini, Church of San Paolo Converso, Milan, IT

2018

Days of Reading, Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art, Winnipeg, MB
The 80s Image, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, MB
International Dumpling Festival, Nuit Blanche, Toronto, ON
L, Fonds régional d’art contemporain, Ile-de-France, Le Chateau Rentilly, FR
Serpentine Path, Terminal Creek Contemporary, Bowen Island, BC
Readymades Belong to Everyone, Swiss Institute Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Then and Now, Art Asian Initiative, Philadelphia, PA
Note to Self, Royale Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Brand New: Art and Commodity in the 1980s, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
Photography in Canada: 1960 – 2000, The Rooms, St. John’s, N.L.

Selected Writing

2020

“Letter to My Mother.” essay from Best! Letters from Asian Americans. n+1, New York.
Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018. Concordia University Press, Montreal.

2019

“Revisiting 1984 China.” essay from Beautiful China, L/A (Landscape/Architecture) magazine. Censored by the Chinese government and remains unpublished.
“Necrology Series.” Border Crossings, issue 149 vol. 38, no. 1, April-May 2019, 73-77.

2018

“On ‘Monument Lab.’” Art 21 Magazine, 28 Jan. 2018.

2017

“Monument Lab: Memorializing Philadelphia as a Place of Crisis and Boundless Hope.” Penn Institute for Urban Research, 14 Nov. 2017.

2016

“The Other in the Carpet.” from Carpets by Artists, Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art.
“Living in America: The differences in the Canadian and American Art Scenes.” Canadian Art, Winter 2016.

2014

“Some Reflections on Urban Public Art Today.” Penn Institute for Urban Research, 20 Nov. 2014.

2013

From Chalk Circle to Full Circle: The Art of Ian Wilson. Dia Art Foundation, New York City (public lecture).
“Looking Up: Art and the Image.” from M+ Matters: ARTWORKDOCUMENTATION symposium, Hong Kong (public lecture).
“Canadian Identity Debates are Broken, Let’s Fix them.” Canadian Art, 9 May 2013.

2012

“Past & Present, Art & Labour Meet.” Canadian Art, 4 Dec. 2012.
“The City of Brotherly Love.” Canadian Art, 5 Aug. 2012.

Selected Awards and Commissions

2020

Government of Canada – Governor-General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts

2019

Gershon Iskowitz Prize at the Art Gallery of Ontario

2018

Pew Fellowship, Pew Center for Arts and Heritage

2017

Officer of the Order of Canada

2015

Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC

2013

Fellow, Penn Institute for Urban Research
Canadian Campaign in Italy WWII Memorial, Nathan Phillips Square, City Hall, Toronto, ON
Concord Park Development Project, Toronto, ON
Marine Gateway Development Project, Vancouver, BC

2012

Laumeier Sculpture Park, St Louis, Missouri

Select Collections

Museum moderner Kunst stiftung ludwig, Vienna
Helga de Alvear Collection, Madrid
Musée d’art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva
Lilac Milne, Vancouver
FRAC Nord Pas de Calais, Dunkirk, France
Centro Galego de Arte Contemporanea, Santiago de Campostela, Spain
FRAC Haute Normandie, Rouen
BMO Collection, Toronto
Arco Foundation Collection Madrid
M+ Museum of Visual Culture, Hong Kong
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Fundación AMMA Amparo y Manuel, Mexico City
Winnipeg Art Gallery
Joanneumsviertel Neue Galerie, Graz, Austria
Vancouver Art Gallery
Stadtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich
Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne
Walter A Bechtler Foundation, Zurich
Museum Boijmans van-Beuningen, Rotterdam
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam
Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden
Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal
Daniel Friedman, Winnipeg
Elaine Cohen Collection, New York
Ralph Wernicke Collection, Berlin
Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
Pierre Huber Collection, Geneva
Centro de Arte Contemporáneo De Huarte, Navarro, Spain
Laumeier Sculpture Park, St Louis
Long March Space, Beijing
FRAC Ile de France, le Plateau, Paris
RISD Museum, Rhode Island, RI
Tate, London, UK
Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing
Drake Hotel Permanent Collection, Toronto
Annie Wong Art Foundation, Hong Kong
Collection of Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa
RBC Collection, Toronto