The Metropolitan Museum of Art has unveiled four large-scale sculptures by Liu Wei in the niches of its Fifth Avenue facade, opening the third edition of the Genesis Facade Commission. Titled Speculation, the installation opened on 17 September 2026 and will remain on view until 8 June 2027. The four metallic, monumental works confront the facade's Beaux-Arts architecture with Liu's signature language of assemblage and reconfiguration — organic, geometric and architectural fragments colliding in compositions that read as both archaeological and futuristic. A recurring motif of the human hand runs through the group: enormous hands appear at the bases of the main sculptures, resembling distorted mudras, held together by nails, cords, ropes and metal bars. For Liu, the hand becomes a way of addressing cycles of rupture and renewal — the fragmentation, transformation and repair that have shaped individuals, cities and societies. The artist, born in Beijing in 1972, has spent his career reconfiguring fragments of the urban environment and historical references into grandiose forms that capture the contradictions of rapid modernisation. The commission marks Liu's first major project in the United States, following editions by Lee Bul and Jeffrey Gibson under the multi-year Genesis partnership. Perched above one of the most photographed museum entrances in the world, Speculation turns the facade itself into a stage — an outdoor, street-facing exhibition that anyone passing Fifth Avenue can encounter without a ticket. With the works installed directly on the museum's street front, the project functions as public art as much as exhibition — a commission that meets New Yorkers where they already are, in front of one of the city's most recognisable facades.