Sung Tieu's Ching from 'Türkisch für Anfänger' Reappears in Her Art

Sung Tieu, who played Ching in the ARD series 'Türkisch für Anfänger' nearly 20 years ago, has integrated the character into her artistic practice since 2019. The series is experiencing a revival on TikTok, where Ching is celebrated as 'iconic' and 'badass'. Tieu, now representing Germany at the Venice Biennale with a facade of a prefabricated building on the German Pavilion, first brought Ching into her work in 2019 in London. In 2020, for the exhibition 'Not Working' at Kunstverein München, she wrote a letter to Ching under her legal name Dung Tien Thi Phuong (misspelled), addressing psychological splitting and racial stereotypes. In 2023, at n.b.k. in Berlin, she presented 'No Jobs, No Country', featuring a steel sculpture based on her childhood home in Berlin-Lichtenberg and a letter signed 'Ching' responding to a 1995 New York Times article about Vietnamese contract workers. Tieu uses Ching to create a counter-narrative to external perspectives on Vietnamese in Germany. The character, a minor role in the series, serves as a rival and projection surface. Tieu describes Ching as 'a bit evil', 'catty', 'flashy', but warm inside. She notes that Ching's name is not Vietnamese, playing with racial clichés. Tieu's acting career, which began at age 19, indirectly led her to art, funding her travels and influencing her work on fiction and reality.