Ming Wong
Teorema
in collaboration with Maria Modrovic and Peter Šulej
exhibition opening
August 15, 2019 at 7:00 PM
The exhibition runs until September 26, 2019
opening hours:
Tue – Thu: 3:00 – 6:00 PM
Curated by: Lýdia Pribišová
Pier Paolo Pasolini, (1922-1975), was a poet, novelist, journalist, painter, actor and filmmaker whose work and outspokenness on the fate of humanity, sex, religion and politics still make him a controversial figure today, long after his murder which is still shrouded in mystery. He witnessed Italy’s rural economy being replaced by consumer capitalism during the ‘economic miracle’ of the 50s and 60s, and was already warning society of what he saw as moral corruption masquerading as freedom.
In 1968, Pasolini created “Teorema”, a story that centers around the members of a bourgeois Milanese family who are seduced and transformed in turn by a handsome stranger with a mysterious divine force: the tortured father, the frigid mother, the sensitive son, the diffident daughter and the pious maid.
In 2009, Ming Wong re-interprets the film for a 5-channel video installation, by re-locating and re-shooting parts of “Teorema” in Naples. As the artist plays all the characters including the ‘divine’ stranger, he/she in effect seduces and transforms him/herself and embarks on his/her own journey into the unknown.
For this exhibition, the artist has invited two writers, Maria Modrovic and Peter Sulej to contribute texts in response to the artist’s project and Pasolini’s film. The texts are transformed into “scripts” for which the artist’s re-shooting as well as clips from Pasolini’s film are both treated as raw materials for a new re-mix that re-calls ghosts of the past and visions of an apocalyptic future, along with Pasolini’s pictures, persona and legacy.
Ming Wong (born 1971 in Singapore, living and working in Berlin) builds layers of cinematic language, social structure, identity and introspection through his re-telling of world cinema and popular culture in his videos, installations and performances. With imperfect translations and reenactments, he casts an actor (often himself) as every character in a story. Wong attempts to unravel ideas of ‘authenticity’, ‘originality’ and the ‘other’, with reference to the act of human performativity. He looks into how culture, gender and identity are constructed, reproduced and circulated, as well as how it all feeds into the politics of representation. Though untrained as an actor, he has embarked on an artistic practice that is at once highly influenced by cinema and is in constant dialogue with measures of performativity, gender, and difference. Recent projects have become more interdisciplinary, incorporating performance and installation to flesh out his exploration of cultural artefacts from around the world. His work has been shown recently at Busan Biennale, South Korea; Dakar Biennale, Senegal; Dhaka Art Summit, Bangladesh; Para Site, Hong Kong; SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin; Centre National de la Danse, Paris; (all 2018). He has had solo exhibitions at leading institutions worldwide, including UCCA, Beijing; Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo; REDCAT, Los Angeles; He has participated in Sydney Biennale (2016 & 2010); Asia Pacific Triennial (2015); Shanghai Biennale (2014); Lyon Biennale (2013); Liverpool Biennial (2012); Gwangju Biennale (2010); Performa 11, New York (2010). He represented Singapore at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 with the solo presentation Life of Imitation, which was awarded a special mention.
http://www.mingwong.org
Supported using public funding from the Slovak Arts Council, Ars Bratislavensis and Goethe Institut Bratislava.
