Lawrence Lek
Lawrence Lek is a London-based artist whose films and worlds tell stories about artificial intelligence. He draws on architecture training from Cambridge and the Architectural Association to create CGI worlds. His 2016 video essay Sinofuturism (1839–2046 AD) shows how China's technological development can be seen as a form of artificial intelligence. In 2024 he won the Frieze London Artist Award, and TIME named him one of the 100 most influential people in AI. ArtScience Museum in Singapore showed NOX: Confessions of a Machine in 2026.
Timeline
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1982
Born in Frankfurt
He is born in Frankfurt in 1982.
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2004–2012
Training in architecture
He earns a BA in architecture at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 2004. He later completes a diploma at the Architectural Association in 2008 and a Master of Architecture II at The Cooper Union in 2012, and he uses that training to create CGI worlds.
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2016
A video essay on Sinofuturism
He releases the video essay Sinofuturism (1839–2046 AD) in 2016. The essay shows how China's technological development can be seen as a form of artificial intelligence, and it reads the West's fears and fantasies about AI and a rising China as mirror images of one another.
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2017
A satellite aspires to art
In Geomancer (2017), a superintelligent satellite aspires to become an artist.
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2019
A pop star's ghostwriting AI
In AIDOL (2019), a fading pop star recruits an AI to ghostwrite her new album.
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2024
Honoured by Frieze and TIME
In 2024 he won the Frieze London Artist Award, and TIME named him one of the 100 most influential people in AI.
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2025–2026
Shows in London and Singapore
Goldsmiths CCA in London hosts Life Before Automation in 2025, the largest UK institutional exhibition of his work to date. ArtScience Museum in Singapore showed NOX: Confessions of a Machine in 2026.
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As of October 2026
Working from London
He is a London-based artist, and Sadie Coles HQ represents him.
Sources and credits
Photo: lawrencelek.com; about; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: lawrencelek.com. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.