Chinese artist Liu Wei has been tapped to create four new sculptures for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Fifth Avenue façade. The project will be the seventh in a series of commissions for the museum’s historic exterior and will be on view from September 2026 through June 2027.
The commission marks the first major U.S. project for the artist, who is known for his conceptual and multidisciplinary practice that explores themes of urbanization, power, and modernity. Born in 1972, Wei is a leading figure in China’s contemporary art scene and a member of the post-1989 generation that emerged after the country’s period of rapid transformation. His notable projects include large-scale installations shown at major international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale and Documenta.
The façade project was announced at a press conference in Paris on October 21st, but specific details are yet to be announced.
“For this commission, Liu Wei will use his dynamic language of reconfiguration and assemblage to address conflicts and contradictions in society,” said Lesley Ma, the Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu curator at The Met, who will curate the project. “For me, his work always compellingly pierces through perceptions of reality with a blend of rawness and refinement. I look forward to seeing how he challenges our expectations for the classical niches and for public sculptures.”
The annual Met façade commission invites contemporary artists to create works drawing on the Met’s collection and the physical museum, in dialogue with their own practice. Previous artists to undertake the commission include Wangechi Mutu, Carol Bove, Lee Bul, and, most recently, Jeffrey Gibson, whose façade is on view through May 2026.
“To dialogue with the tremendous legacy of human civilization through The Met’s Genesis Facade Commission makes me so excited and anxious,” said Wei. “What a challenge and a blessing.”
Also announced at the press conference were plans for the development of the museum’s five-story Tang Wing—opening in 2030—which will house the museum’s holdings of 20th- and 21st-century art. Designed by Frida Escobedo, the first woman to design a new wing in the museum’s history, it will increase gallery space by 50%.
