Yu Cheng-Ta Recalls Meeting Ming Wong at 2009 Venice Biennale

Yu Cheng-Ta unexpectedly participated in the Taiwan Pavilion at the 2009 Venice Biennale while still a graduate student. He describes this early entry into the international art world not as a quest for visibility but as immersive learning. One night after the opening, artist Jun Yang guided him through Venice's streets with other global artists. Near Piazza San Marco, Yang suggested visiting the Singapore Pavilion, where his friend would grant access. They sneaked through dark installation corridors into the exhibition space. When the lights turned on, Yu first encountered Ming Wong, an elegant figure in a red shirt, in a moment charged with theatricality. For Yu, witnessing artists from diverse backgrounds and career stages provided irreplaceable enlightenment. The experience of meeting Wong remains vividly etched in his memory from that formative period.