Ming Wong
at Singapore Biennale 2011
13 March – 15 May 2011

An artist in the role of a fashion designer

In November 2010, the Singaporean in Berlin and Singapore based multimedia artist Ming Wong (born 1971) who works on language, gender, identity is announced to be one of 60 artists from 30 countries at the Singapore Biennale 2011 'Open House', which runs from 13 March to 15 May 2011.

The organizers of the Singapore Biennale 2011 (founded 2006) have chosen the title 'Open House' to practice an Asian tradition that provides reflection and exchange: "In Singapore, at customary festivities such as Hari Raya, Deepavali and Chinese New Year, people open their homes to others, inviting them to visit, eat and talk. This is not only a gesture of hospitality and good will but also an opportunity to reflect, negotiate and exchange." singaporebiennale.org/about.htm

Ming Wong's work is exemplary for exchanging and translating various information from different cultures; such as you can watch on the video on this page.

Video: 'Lerne Deutsch Mit Petra von Kant / Learn German with Petra von Kant' by Ming Wong (2007) is a 10 minutes looping digital installation in split-screen technology. The left screen shows the original scenes of the Rainer Werner Fassbinder movie 'The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant' (1972), and on the right screen, you can see the artist himself in the female role of the "successful but arrogant fashion designer in her mid-thirties, who falls into despair when she loses the woman she loves," such as it is described on mingwong.org/index.php?/works/lerne-deutsch-mit-petra-von-kant/. Ming Wong states that he believes that a country's original cinema is a good way to get into a foreign culture. The Rainer Werner Fassbinder movie was Ming Wong's favorite German film-guide.

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