Terence Koh

Terence Koh (b. 1977, Beijing, China) makes work that carves out a realm where memory and imagination intertwine with art history and subculture. Working across installation, sculpture, and performance, and earlier under the alias asianpunkboy, he investigates mythology, religion, identity, power, fashion, and sexuality, frequently in a provocative and intense manner, and is known for monochromatic installations and ritualistic performances. In 2024, Make Room presented Koffee in its project space [ROOM] in Los Angeles, where Koh unearthed a hidden coffee shop, part cave and part speakeasy, built of earth, moss, and native plants, and invited guests into a bespoke coffee ceremony informed by Gaston Bachelard's The Poetics of Space.

Koh grew up in Mississauga, Canada, and received his bachelor's degree from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver. Solo exhibitions include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2007), his first solo museum show in the United States, presented in the museum's Lobby Gallery; Kunsthalle Zurich (2006); and bee chapel at Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York. In 2008 he was named to Out magazine's 100 People of the Year and shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award.

His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Tate Modern, London; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; MUDAM, Luxembourg; MUSAC, Leon, Spain; the RISD Museum, Providence; the Jumex Collection, Mexico; the Boros Collection, Berlin; the Dakis Joannou Collection and Deste Foundation, Athens; The Domus Collection, Beijing; and the Vanhaerents Art Collection, Brussels, among others. Koh lives and works in Los Angeles.