Page 53 - The MoMA/ Guggenheim issue of World of Art magazine (2003)
P. 53
MuSée d’art Moderne de la ville de PariS ARC
following his contribution to the life live cameRa is an exhibition born of the collaboration
exhibition in 1995, this is steve McQueen’s Chang Yung ho cuRaToRs between architect chang yung ho and two of
first one-person show in Paris. since the early wang Jian wei china’s most important contemporary artists,
1990s McQueen’s approach has centered Yang Fudong vivian reHberg Hans ulricH obrist video artist yang Fudong and multimedia artist
mainly on the making of short films drawing wang jian wei. in its exploration of the relationship
on a range of media including super 8, 16mm, caMera between architecture and video, cameRa invites
35mm and video and designed to be shown the viewer to test out new approaches to the
in meticulously arranged installations. often spatial presentation of the image.
in black and white, his first films have an Playing on the two meanings of camera -
experimental character referring back to “room” in the original latin and the camera
the early days of cinema. Here he presents we know today - chang yung ho has designed
four recent installations: radical formal four architectural modules, projection rooms
propositions using such varied techniques in which exhibition visitors both look and are
as medium close-ups, masking and single looked at. each of the four spaces is named
frame editing. specially created for the after a brand of camera - Polaroid*, leica*,
exhibition, once upon a time explores the nikon* and seagull* - in reference to four
notion of knowledge. Prepared in association distinct geographical zones: the united states,
with William J. clancey, nasa researcher germany, japan and china, in that order.
and advisor to the seti (search for extra For each module the architect has had recourse
terrestrial intelligence) laboratory, and to different materials: sheet metal for leica,
CaStello di rivoli William J. samarin, linguist and professor Steve MCQueen clear Plexiglas for Polaroid, wood, metal and
museum oF emeritus in the anthropology department mirrors for nikon and rice paper for seagull. The
new video works by yang Fudong and wang
at the university of toronto, the work is
conTemPoRaRy aRT based on images obtained by the 1977 sPeaking in tongues jian wei have been specially created for the
torino space probe voyager, launched by nasa modules in which they are to be shown. living
respectively in shanghai and Peking, these two
as part of its search for extraterrestrial
intelligence. the outcome is intended to artists draw their inspiration from contemporary
sum up the current state of knowledge on chinese society. wang jian wei’s square (dv,
the subject, against which the artists sets a 13’) and Theater (dv, 20’) show recent social
theoretically unintelligible glossolalia*. change as revealed by the collective anonymity
at the core of the other three installations of public spaces. in liu lan (35 mm, 10’) and
are the themes of solitude and isolation: honey (dv, 8’) yang Fudong’s intimate narrative
- using an extremely pared-down monologue, technique focuses on the changing definition
7th november recounts a tragic story Hans ulricH obrist angeline scHerf 7th noveMber, 2001 of the contemporary identity.
involving two brothers. cuRaToRs slide PRojecTion son, 25’
- girls tricky shows composer-musician couRTesy maRian good man galleR * Polaroid, leica, nikon and seagull are
tricky in a moment of intense concentration new yoRK /PaRis registered trademarks.
during a recording session.
- illuminer uses the light emitted by a tv
set to reveal the body of the artist.
in a totally direct way the artist confronts
man with the conscious and unconscious
forces that drive him. Without seeking to
freeze reality, he highlights - in the same
way as jazz - those moments in which
reality cuts free of consciousness while
still continuing to produce meaning. for
this artist reality is more inaccessible than
the world of the imaginary: “suspense is
always with us,” he says. “the unpredictable
is our world.”
* a trance phenomenon, also called “speaking
in tongues”: the subject utters a succession of
incomprehensible sounds or words.
World of art 51
