Detail: Ming Wong will represent Singapore at the 53rd Venice Biennale International Art Exhibition this year.
A graduate of the Slade School of Art (UK) and the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (Singapore), Wong is presently based in Berlin, Germany, where he undertook a one year artist residency at the prestigious Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in 2008. Wong has made significant in-roads internationally with his participation in numerous group and solo visual arts exhibitions in Europe, North America and Asia; notable recent showcases include the Images Festival in Toronto Canada, Vain Efforts in Sydney Australia, S1 Salon in UK and the Jakarta Biennale. Wong’s works are currently on display at the At Home Abroad showcase at 8Q SAM, for Singapore artists who are well received overseas.
This will be Singapore’s 5th consecutive presentation at the Venice Biennale. The Commissioner for the Singapore Pavilion is Lim Chwee Seng, Director of Visual Arts & Resource Development, National Arts Council (NAC), while Tang Fu Kuen, an authority in managing multi-disciplinary arts showcases, serves as curator.
The Singapore Pavilion, entitled 'Life of Imitation', stages the co-existence of multiple worlds where language, gender, appearance and traditions constantly negotiate with one another. In playful and imperfect acts of mimesis and melodrama, this exhibition attempts to hold the mirror up to the Singaporean condition related to roots, hybridity and change.
Wong explores the performative veneers of language and identity through his own re-interpretations of “world cinema” – he has created a series of multi-channel video installations inspired by classic cinematic moments from Hollywood, Europe, China and South East Asia. The mood is further enhanced by billboards painted by Wong and Singapore’s last surviving billboard painter Neo Chon Teck, and movie memorabilia such as photographs of old cinemas in Singapore, paintings, drawings and transcripts, depicting the creation process of Wong’s video installations and the entire exhibition itself.