Vitamin Creative Space

Biography

Born in 1971 in Singapore, Ming Wong studied Chinese Art at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, and Fine Art Media at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London. He currently lives and works in Berlin and is Professor of Fine Art specialising in performance in the expanded field at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm.

Wong’s videos and installations explore the intersections of language, identity, and performance. He is renowned for refined video works that reimagine excerpts from art films and world cinema. Drawing on his early theatre training, Wong not only researches, plans, directs and produces the films; he often ‘mis-casts’ himself, portraying multiple primary characters, irrespective of language, gender or ethnicity. Wong builds layers of social structure, introspection and cinematic language into his re-takes on classic film scenes, questioning how identity is both constructed and disseminated. Through his distinctively disjointed and at times humorous translations and reinterpretations, Wong plays with notions of time and history, creating an almost otherworldly atmosphere in the process.

Ming Wong’s principal solo exhibitions include Fake Daughter’s Secret Room of Shame, ASAKUSA, Tokyo, 2019; Next Year in Marienbad, Passerelle Centre d'art contemporain, Brest, 2016; Next Year / L’Année Prochaine, UCCA, Beijing, 2015;  Me in Me, Shiseido Gallery, 2013; Ming Wong: Making Chinatown, REDCAT, Los Angeles, 2012; LIFE OF IMITATION, Hara Museum, 2011, in Tokyo.

He has participated in numerous international exhibitions and biennials including the Asian Art Biennale at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, 2019; The D-Tale, Video Art from the Pearl River Delta. Episode II: Towards Autonomy, Times Art Center Berlin, 2019; Dhaka Art Summit, 2018; Tales from the Bamboo Spaceship, Centre National de la Danse, Paris, 2018; Sydney Biennale, 2016 & 2010; Asia Pacific Triennial, 2015; Shanghai Biennale, 2014; Lyon Biennale, 2013; Gwangju Biennale, 2010; Performa, 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.

Artist’s website:
http://www.mingwong.org/