I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture travels to Power Station of Art in Shanghai

(11 April 2025, Hong Kong) M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, is pleased to announce that its critically acclaimed Special Exhibition I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture will travel to Power Station of Art (PSA) in Shanghai from Saturday, 26 April to Sunday, 27 July 2025.

The exhibition will continue to tour globally after the Shanghai presentation. Images courtesy of M+, Hong Kong

I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture was initiated by M+ and first held in Hong Kong from June 2024 to January 2025. The exhibition in Shanghai is co-organised by PSA and M+. The show is one of the outcomes of the collaboration between the two museums outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2024. To mark the opening of the exhibition, PSA will host a roundtable titled ‘Rethinking Legacy, Biases, Practice: I. M. Pei and China’ on Friday, 25 April 2025. The two museums will also co-organise a free public talk on Thursday, 19 June 2025 as part of WestK Shanghai Week 2025, organised by the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority from 18 to 22 June 2025.

The exhibition—seven years in the making—is 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. Curated by Shirley Surya, Curator, Design and Architecture, M+, and Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director, Nieuwe Instituut (New Institute), Rotterdam, and incoming Director, Zaha Hadid Foundation, London, I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture received more than 225,000 visitors at M+ during the six-month exhibition period from June 2024 to January 2025.

Pei’s high-profile projects were realised over seven decades with an exceptionally wide geographic reach, including 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 solidified his legacy and position in architectural history and popular culture. His life and work weave together a tapestry of power dynamics, geopolitical complexities, and cultural traditions around the world. His transcultural vision laid the foundation for the contemporary world.

The exhibition takes a close look at Pei’s life and work through six areas of focus that not only define his unique practice but also place his architectural projects in dialogue with social, cultural, and biographical trajectories, showing architecture and life to be inseparable. Organised with the support of the Estate of I. M. Pei and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, the architectural firm Pei cofounded, the retrospective features more than 400 objects, including original drawings, architectural models, photographs, films, and archival documentation from institutional and private holdings, many of them exhibited for the first time in mainland China.

The opening roundtable ‘Rethinking Legacy, Biases, Practice: I. M. Pei and China’ on Friday, 25 April 2025 at PSA will feature architectural practitioners, educators, and critics Ding Wowo, Huang Wenjing, Liu Kecheng, Liu Yichun, Lin Bing, and James Wei Ke, moderated by Shirley Surya.

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, says, ‘M+’s critically acclaimed exhibition I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture is the second Special Exhibition curated by the museum to embark on a world tour after the enormous success of Yayoi Kusama: 1945 to Now in Spain and Portugal in 2023 and 2024. Seven years in the making, the exhibition distils extensive research and profound insights, exemplifying M+’s curatorial expertise and vision. We are delighted to partner with Power Station of Art to bring this retrospective to a broader audience, particularly in light of Pei’s formative years and architectural projects in China. This exhibition reintroduces Pei and his significant contributions while illuminating often-overlooked facets of his remarkable career.’

Gong Yan, Director, Power Station of Art, says, ‘Pei’s architecture emerges from his mobility across diverse cultures. Rather than being overwhelmed by nostalgia, dislocation and alienation have shaped his unique philosophy of life and his distinctive approach to meet the diverse needs of his clients. Humility, pragmatism, wisdom, and generosity define both his life spirit and the cultural essence of his architecture.’

As part of the WestK Shanghai Week 2025, M+ and PSA will co-organise a free public talk on Thursday, 19 June 2025, featuring architect Li Chung (Sandi) Pei, I. M. Pei’s son, partner and founder of PEI Architects, and artist Xu Bing. Moderated by Shirley Surya, the discussion will delve into I. M. Pei’s interest in the art of his time, his engagement with certain artistic practices, and his collaborations with artists on the designs of his buildings.

After Shanghai, I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture will travel to Qatar Museums Gallery, Al Riwaq in Doha from November 2025 to February 2026 as the next stop of its world tour.