MARCO

Michael Lin (Tokyo, 1964) is internationally recognised for his huge painted mural-like installations, executed on walls, ceilings, and floors amongst other surfaces, which represent on a grand scale the brightly coloured floral prints of Taiwan and which he conceives as architectural processes that offer new ways of experiencing space through painting, and of seeing art as a social event. He generally uses space (public or private) as a medium in which, to use his own words, “the work becomes a part of the space rather than an object in it”. The painting in his installations transforms our perception of the spaces they occupy, thereby challenging the autonomy of art forms and provoking situations in which viewers can participate directly.

Michael Lin’s work can be described as relational art, which defines aesthetic values as social relations and where communication, interaction and the vital experience of the public in a space shape the basis of the artistic project. Lin affirms himself in his role as social activator by decontextualising his work and introducing it into the realm of immediate reality, and designing interiors, furniture, coffee cups or a tennis court.

Michael Lin’s solo exhibitions include: 2ª Moscow Biennial (2007), Schaurausch-O.K.Centrum, Linz, Austria (2007); Spaces Within, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan (2006); The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii (2005); Lyon Biennial (2005); PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (2004); Fundación Montenmedio, NMAC, Cádiz (2003); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2002); Urgent Painting, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2002); Asianvibe, EACC, Castellón (2002); Gwanju Biennial Hall, Gwanju, Korea (2002); 49ª Venice Biennale, Taiwan Pavilion (2001); VII Istanbul Biennial (2001); ARS O1, Kiasma Museum, Helsinki, Finland (2001); Casino, Luxemburg (2001); SMAK, Ghent, Belgium (2001) and The Sky Is the Limit, Taipei Biennial, Taipei, Taiwan (2000). Michael Lin lives between Shanghai and Paris.