CAI LEI I PARIS CULTURAL SPACE

INVISIBLE SPACES

EXHIBITION I OCTOBER 22 – DECEMBER 15, 2025

ICICLE Cultural Space in Paris is delighted to present Invisible Spaces, the first solo exhibition in France by Chinese artist Cai Lei. Organised in collaboration with Tang Contemporary Art and curated by Larys Frogier and Myriam Kryger, the exhibition is included in Art Basel Paris’s Official Programme, marking ICICLE’s first participation in the fair and underscoring its commitment to intercultural dialogue and its role as a cultural actor between East and West.

For his first exhibition in France, Cai Lei unveils a new series of pictorial and sculptural works, including emblematic cement pieces from his foundational cycle Unfinished Home (毛坯房). At the heart of the exhibition stands Left in the Dust (遗落), a spiral staircase with missing steps that encapsulates the poetic force of his work. Caught between elevation and collapse, fragility and strength, the piece makes void and fracture the very condition of beauty.

“Within the evolving landscape of Chinese and international contemporary art, Cai Lei stands out as a singular, precise, and radical voice, poetic and deeply attuned to the tensions between perception and reality. Invisible Spaces invites the public to enter the pared-down yet meticulously constructed worlds of Cai Lei, where the boundaries between architecture and sculpture blur and are reinvented.” — Larys Frogier

“Why do we immediately feel such a profound emotion when facing these works of almost austere formalism? In the silence of cement, the absence of colour, the bareness of surfaces and the precision of volumes, a poetic intensity emerges and pierces through us. This is Cai Lei’s alchemy: uniting the rigour of system with the force of the sensorial, transforming emptiness into vibration.” 

Myriam Kryger

ICICLE CULTURAL SPACE I PARIS
35 AVENUE GEORGE V, PARIS 8
MONDAY TO SATURDAY, 11 AM – 7 PM

CAI LEI

Born 1983 in Changchun, lives and works in Beijing. His work has been exhibited in numerous museum institutions, including the Kunstmuseum Bonn, the Yangtze Art Museum in Chongqing, the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville (United States), the Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts (Taiwan), and the Today Art Museum in Beijing. 

Cai Lei Exhibition at ICICLE Cultural Space in Paris

Unfinished home 20190601, 2019, cement, 50x50x6 cm. Courtesy Tang Contemporary Art

Wall 20241024, 2024, acrylic on canvas, cement, mixed media, 130x100 cm. Courtesy Tang Contemporary Art

Unfinished Home 20240911, 2024, cement, 50x60x5 cm. Courtesy Tang Contemporary Art

Unfinished Home 20250712, 2025, cement, 60x49.5x4.5 cm. Courtesy Tang Contemporary Art

Left in the Dust of Time 20250807, 2025, cement, 197x86x86 cm, base 25x87x87 cm. Courtesy Tang Contemporary Art

Unfinished Home 20250830, 2025, cement, 61.5x41x4.5 cm. Courtesy Tang Contemporary Art

Space of Space 20230809, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 230x160 cm. Courtesy Tang Contemporary Art

TANG CONTEMPORARY ART 

Tang Contemporary Art was founded in 1997 in Bangkok, later establishing eight spaces in Beijing and Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Singapore. Tang Contemporary Art is fully committed to producing critical projects and exhibitions to promote contemporary art regionally and worldwide, and encourage a dynamic exchange between Asian, Chinese and international artists. Acting as one of the most progressive and critically driven exhibition spaces in China, the gallery strives to initiate dialogue between artists, curators, collectors and institutions. A roster of groundbreaking exhibitions has earned Tang Contemporary Art internationally renowned recognition, establishing its status as a pioneer of the contemporary art scene in Asia. 

ART BASEL

Founded in 1970 by gallerists from Basel, Art Basel today stages the world’s premier art shows for Modern and contemporary art, sited in Basel, Miami Beach, Hong Kong, Paris, and Qatar. Defined by its host city and region, each show is unique, which is reflected in its participating galleries, artworks presented, and the content of parallel programming produced in collaboration with local institutions for each edition. Art Basel’s engagement has expanded beyond art fairs through new digital platforms including the Art Basel App and initiatives such as the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report, the Art Basel Shop, and the Art Basel Awards.

PARIS CULTURAL SPACE

ICICLE opened a cultural space in Paris in 2019, dedicated to creating opportunities for exchange and discovery. Guided by a belief in the importance of encounter, the cultural programme fosters dialogue and cross-fertilisation. On the 3rd floor of the ICICLE store at 35 Avenue George V, the ICICLE Cultural Space hosts exhibitions devoted to art and design, and features a uniquely diverse bookshop. Its selection spans materials and images (architecture, painting, art, crafts), words and ideas (philosophy, poetry, literature, history, sinology), and practices and tastes (tea and Tao arts, martial arts and meditation techniques).