I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture

M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong, will present I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture, the first full-scale retrospective of Chinese American architect Ieoh Ming Pei (1917–2019), widely known as I. M. Pei, one of the most influential architects of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This special exhibition will be held in the museum’s West Gallery from Saturday, June 29, 2024 to Sunday, January 5, 2025. 

Few embrace a vision of global cultural exchange as boldly as I. M. Pei, whose high-profile projects were realised over seven decades with an exceptionally wide geographic reach. These include the National Gallery of Art East Building in Washington, D.C., the modernisation of the Grand Louvre in Paris, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, and the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha. These landmark projects not only solidified his legacy and position in architectural history and popular culture, but they also demonstrated Pei’s belief in architecture’s capacity to honour regional histories and global movements that resonate across time and cultures. His transcultural vision laid the foundation for the contemporary world.  

Co-curated by Shirley Surya (Curator, Design and Architecture, M+) and Aric Chen (General and Artistic Director, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam), this retrospective takes an expanded and closer look at I. M. Pei through six areas of focus that define his unique practice: Pei’s Cross-Cultural Foundations; Real Estate and Urban Redevelopment; Art and Civic Form; Power, Politics, and Patronage; Material and Structural Innovation; and Reinterpreting History through Design. They highlight Pei’s upbringing, approach to cities, engagement with art, relationship with clients, masterful use of geometry, materials, and structure, as well as a deep reflection on the past. By placing his projects in dialogue with social, cultural, and biographical trajectories, his life and work weave together a tapestry of power dynamics, geopolitical complexities, and cultural traditions around the world, showing architecture and life to be inseparable.

Organised with the support of the Estate of I. M. Pei and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, which succeeded the architectural firm Pei founded, the exhibition features more than three hundred objects, many of them never exhibited before. These include original drawings, architectural models, photographs, films, and other archival documentation from institutional and private holdings. The exhibition also features newly commissioned photographs of eleven of Pei’s built projects by seven international photographers, taken during the pandemic, to reconsider the enduring influence of Pei’s work. The photographers are South Ho Siu Nam (Hong Kong), Naho Kubota (New York City), Lee Kuo-Min (Taipei), Giovanna Silva (Milan), Mohamed Somji (Dubai), Tian Fangfang (Shanghai), and Tomoko Yoneda (Tokyo/London). To engage a new generation of architecture students with the work of I. M. Pei, M+ also partnered with two master’s programmes focusing on the design of tall structures and cultural spaces at the University of Hong Kong Department of Architecture and The Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Architecture, respectively.  

To coincide with the exhibition, a 400-page monograph I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture with 471 colour illustrations will be published in July 2024 by Thames & Hudson in collaboration with M+.

M+ will present a series of public programmes for I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture throughout the exhibition period, including a talk, M+ Cinema special screenings, guided tours, conversations, film screenings, and workshops to engage various audiences. For more information, please visit mplus.org.hk.

I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture is curated by Shirley Surya (Curator, Design and Architecture, M+) and Aric Chen (General and Artistic Director, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam) supported by Naomi Altman and Iris Ng (Curatorial Assistants, M+). The exhibition is generously supported by the Lead Sponsor Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bei Shan Tang Foundation, the Family of S. P. Tao, Travel Partner Cathay, and Hotel Partner The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong.