Leelee Chan’s Art Journey

Material time travel

In collaboration with the sculptor Leelee Chan, a world- and time-spanning project has been selected for the 8th BMW Art Journey—an initiative of BMW and Art Basel. Chan explores old and new materials in order enter them into a dialogue with the present day. On her travels across Italy in 2020, she learned about traditional techniques used to extract and work marble, copper, iron, and bronze. In Switzerland and Germany, including at BMW’s Munich headquarters, she met engineers and scientists in order to learn about nanotechnologies and postindustrial materials. This richly illustrated volume brings together essays, documentary photographs, and works inspired by the trip to examine the core questions of Chan’s project: What does it mean to be a sculptor in the current time? What can we learn from the materials of yesterday? And how can tomorrow’s materials ensure a more sustainable future?