Wang Tuo's 'Pan-Shamanism' Explores Historical Trauma and Artistic Resistance in China
Wang Tuo's artistic endeavors delve into the concealed narratives of China's past and its quest for democracy, utilizing various mediums such as film, performance, painting, and drawing. His inaugural solo exhibition in Hong Kong, titled The Second Interrogation at Blindspot Gallery, showcased a two-part video from 2023 that presents an imagined conversation between an artist and a Commissioner for Discipline Inspection, alluding to the 1989 China/Avant-Garde exhibition. The event featured seven performances, including those by Xiao Lu, Wu Shanzhuan, and Datong Dazhang. Notably, Wang's film includes an actor representing Datong Dazhang, who tragically took his own life in 2000. His portfolio also features Meditation on Disappointing Reading (2016) and Tungus (2021). Wang Tuo has been nominated for the Sigg Prize 2023.
Key facts
- Wang Tuo's art explores democratic revolution possibilities in China through film, performance, painting, and drawing.
- His first Hong Kong solo exhibition, The Second Interrogation, was held at Blindspot Gallery earlier this year.
- The exhibition's titular 2023 video features a fictional dialogue between an artist and a Commissioner for Discipline Inspection.
- It references the 1989 China/Avant-Garde exhibition at Beijing's National Art Museum of China, which banned performance art.
- Seven performances defied the ban, including acts by Datong Dazhang, Wu Shanzhuan, Xiao Lu, and others.
- Wang's film includes a gunshot gesture nodding to Xiao Lu's 1989 performance where she fired bullets at her installation.
- His 2016 video Meditation on Disappointing Reading uses Pearl S. Buck's banned novel Three Daughters of Madame Liang.
- Wang Tuo is shortlisted for the Sigg Prize 2023.
Entities
Artists
- Wang Tuo
- Li Xianting
- Peng De
- Gao Minglu
- Datong Dazhang
- Zhu Yanguang
- Ren Xiaoying
- Wu Shanzhuan
- Wang Lang
- Li Shan
- Zhang Nian
- Wang Deren
- Xiao Lu
- Tao Yuanming
- Pearl S. Buck
- James C. Scott
- Wen Pulin
Institutions
- Blindspot Gallery
- National Art Museum of China
- Taikang Space
- Boston University
- Sigg Prize
Locations
- Hong Kong
- China
- Beijing
- Changchun
- Jilin province
- North Korea
- Mongolia
- north-eastern Asia
- Jeju Island
- Boston
- United States