WU TSANG
Born 1982
Lives and works in Los Angeles
Education
2010 UCLA, Interdisciplinary Studio MFA, Los Angeles, CA
2004 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, BFA, Chicago, IL
Solo Exhibitions
2015
Clifton Benevento, New York, NY
2014
Not in my language, Migros Museum, Zurich, Switzerland
Moved by the Motion, DiverseWorks, Houston, TX
A day in the life of bliss, Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin, Germany
2013
Show’s Over, Gallery TBW, Toronto, Canada
Michael Benevento, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Re:New/Re:Play Residency and Public Program, New Museum, New York, NY
Clifton Benevento, New York , NY
Group Exhibitions
2015
Party Out of Bounds: Nightlife as Activism Since 1980, Visual AIDS, New York, NY
The Beast and the Sovereign, Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany (Upcoming October)
America is Hard to See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Looks, ICA, London, UK
Real Humans, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
The heart is deceitful above all things, Cornerhouse, Manchester, UK
Discordant Harmony – Seoul Exhibition, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, South Korea
The Beast and the Sovereign, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
Transgender Hirstory in 99 Objects: Legends & Mythologies, ONE Archive, Los Angeles, CA
2014
Double Life, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Houston, TX
Body Doubles, MCA Chicago, Chicago, IL
Don’t You Know Who I am? Art After Identity Politics, MuHKA, Antwerp, Belgium
Nervous Systems – Languages of Wonder & Denial, Kunsthal Aarhus, Denmark
Made in L.A., Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2013
Affluence of the working class from differentiation to collectivism, Pavilion, Bucharest, Romania
Blues for Smoke, The Wexner Center of Arts, Columbus, OH
Blues for Smoke, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2012
Blues for Smoke, The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA
Nothing is Forgotten, Everything Considered, UKS, Oslo, Norway
Gwangju Bienniale 2012, Bwangju, Korea
First Among Equals, ICA Philadelphia, PA
The Ungovernables, New Museum Triennial, New York, NY
Whitney Biennial, New York, NY
2010
Quadruple Consciousness, Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA
California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
After Image, S33, Baltimore, MD
2009
Dance, Sons and Daughters Dance! Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand
Tainted Love, La Mama Galleria, New York, NY
Somethings Gonna Happen Soon, Art Production Fund LAB, New York, NY
2008
Our Bodies Our Selves, Montehermoso Cultural Center, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
MAKE OUT!, Studio44, Stockholm, Sweden
2007
Shared Women, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Bunker o no Bunker: por una profiláxis del sujecto, Galeria Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico
Cyberfem. Feminisms in the Electronic Landscape, Espai d’Art Contemporani, Castellon, Spain
New Ghost Entertainment Entitled, Städtische Galerie Kunsthaus, Dresden, Germany
Esthetics of Resistance, CareOf Gallery, Milan
2005
I Beg Your Pardon, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, New York, NY
Multitudinario, Sala de Art Publico Siqueiros, Mexico City, Mexico
Intersex 101, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Macerate, Around the Coyote Gallery, Chicago, MI
2004
Lesbians To the Rescue, New Image Art, Los Angeles, CA
2003
Listen Translate Translate Record, Andrew Kreps, New York, NY
Selected Screenings
2015
WILDNESS, ICA London, UK
WILDNESS, Spike Island, Bristol, UK
A Day in the Life of Bliss, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, Germany
WILDNESS, Basilica Hudson, Hudson, NY
2014
WILDNESS, MACBA, Barcelona, Spain
WILDNESS, Guggenheim Museum, New York NY
2013
WILDNESS, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham, UK
Tied and True as part of Future Perfect: States of Time, Tate Modern, London, UK
WILDNESS and State of a Right Statement, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Kinoapparatom presents: Cinéma Oblique, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria
WILDNESS, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
WILDNESS, Beursschouwburg, Brussels, Belgium
WILDNESS, Vdrome online
WILDNESS, The Tanks at Tate Modern, London, UK
2012
The Contenders, MoMA, NY
Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
SANFIC 8 Film Festival, Santiago, Chile
WILDNESS, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago,MI
Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
Frieze Film, Frieze Foundation, Frieze Art Fair, London, UK
Documentary Fortnight, MoMa, NY
2011
Hail the New Puritans, with Charles Atlas and Matt Wolf in Conversation, New Museum, NY
2010
OUTFEST, Redcat, Los Angeles, CA
Newfest, New York, NY
Burnt House, Gambia Castle, Aukland, New Zealand
Fusion, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Freaky Film Club, Berlin
Identities Film Festival, Vienna
2008
Analix Forever, Geneva
Troca-Trocas, Capacete, Rio de Janeiro
The Night of the One Thousand and One Videos, Galerie Analix Forever, Geneva
The Young and Evil, TankTV, Tank TV
INTERREGNUM: In Between States, PSi # 14, Copenhagen
Multiplicity of Desires, Impakt Film Festival, Utrecht, Netherlands
The Way That We Rhyme: Women, Art & Politics, Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco, CA
2007
Dead, Absent, and Fictitious, Documenta 12, Kassel
The Museum as a Brothel, Oberhausen International Film Festival, Oberhausen, Germany
Female Consequences, Tabor Film Festival, Zagorje, Croatia
Setting in Motion, Left Forum, New York, NY
2006
Dead, Absent, and Fictitious, and End of Gays, Outfest, REDCAT, Los Angeles
The Fantasy of Failed Utopias and a Girls Daydream, Kuenstlerhaus, Stuttgart
National Center for Contemporary Art, Moscow
Stedelijk Museum CS, Amsterdam
Rethinking Marxism, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
2005
Pilot Television, CareOf Gallery, Milan
Ongoing Feminism & Activism, Galerie 5020, Salzburg, Austria
New Ground and Up!, TVTV, Copenhagen
2004
Elusive Quality, Liverpool Biennial @ FACT Centre, Liverpool
Elusive Quality, Participant Inc., New York, NY
Open Zone, Ocularis, New York, NY
Selected Performances
2015
Moved by Motion (featuring boychild), Donaufestival, Austria
2014
Untouchables (featuring boychild), Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Moved by the Motion (featuring boychild), DiverseWorks, Houston, TX
Moved by the Motion (featuring boychild), The Geffen Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Moved by the Motion (featuring boychild), MCA Chicago, Chicago, IL
2013
Guilt for Shame, as part of Pride Goes Before a Fall/ Beware of a Holy Whore, Artists Space, New York, NY
BREAKDOWN in collaboration with Kelela and Ashland Mines, The Tanks at Tate Modern, London, UK
2012
CUT, as part of Blasting Voice, The Suzanne Geiss Company, New York, NY
2011
FULL BODY QUOTATION, Performa Biennial, New Museum, New York, NY
HOW TO CUT A QUEEN: A Conversation with Jonathan and Ivan Monforte, New Museum, New York, NY
THE TABLE, with TOTAL FREEDOM (Ashland Mines), KINGDOM (Ezra Rubin), and NGUZUNGUZU (Asma Maroof & Daniel Pineda), New Museum, New York, NY
2010
Ecstatic Resistance, X Initiative, New York, NY
2009
New Original Works Festival, REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
Nostalgia Ain’t What it Used to Be, La Mama Theater, New York, NY
2008
Radar, San Francisco, CA
Open Studio, REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
Wildness, The Silver Platter, Los Angeles, CA
2007
Silvia Rivera Law Project, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, NY
Riot the 8 Bars, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Shared Women, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Positively Nasty, Susan Veilmetter Los Angeles Projects, Los Angeles, CA
Positively Nasty, Glasslands Gallery, New York, NY
New Ghost Entertainment Entitled, Or Gallery, Vancouver
End of Gays, REDCAT, Los Angeles, CA
Yes Species, Espai d’Art Contemporani, Castellon, Spain
2005
Let’s Take the Role, The Kitchen, New York, NY
Yes Species, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin
Dead Tech, Open End Gallery, Chicago, MI
Video Opera Tour, DITCH, Los Angeles, CA
2004
Experimental Media for Feminist Tresspass, Pilot Television, Chicago, MI
Explosion, Art In General, New York, NY
2003
Listen Translate Translate Record, Andrew Kreps, New York, NY
Publications
2015
“Wu Tsang. Not in My Language.” Duesseldorf Kunsthalle. Catalog.
“Double Life. Wu Tsang and Haegue Yang.” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Catalog.
2012
“Whitney Biennial 2012”, Elisabeth Sussman/ Jay Sanders (eds.), New York, p.292-297
“The Ungovernables: The 2012 New Musuem Triennial,” Eugnie Joo (ed.), New York
2011
“Wu Tsang in interview with Chloe Flores,” in 2010 California Biennial Orange County Musuem of Art, Sarah C. Bancroft (ed.), p 162-165
2010
“Wu Ingrid Tsang in Conversation with Mary Kelly”, Andrea Geyer / Sharon Hayes (eds.), Switzerland
“Itch #10”, Manifesto, Los Angeles, CA
2007
“New Feminism: Queer and Networking Conditions”, Rosa Reitsamer (ed.), Vienna
Positively Nasty, “Someone Else’s Song”, LTTR V, New York, NY
2006
Yes Species, “Speak with/Out Naming” SubRosa Books. Castellon, Spain
2005
Yes Species, “Vocalization in an Ethical Matrix” SubRosa Books, Berlin
“Intersex 101”, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst, Berlin, Germany
2004
Practice More Failure, “Fortunate Living” LTTR III, New York, NY
Bibliography
2015
“Wu Tsang, Clifton Benevento,” Art in America online, October 15
“Wu Tsang, Clifton Benevento,” Cura Online, September 22
Nicolas Linnert, “Wu Tsang,” Artforum Online, September 11
“Opening: Wu Tsang at Clifton Benevento,” ArtNews, August 31
“Looks at ICA: Posthuman Bodies and Over-edited Identities,” Sleek Magazine, April 28
Alice Hattrick, “Bliss Out, Interview with Wu Tsang, ” Noon, Issue 03, SS15
Gabriel Coxhead, “Looks, Five artists question how identity is constructed,” Time Out London, May 5
Harry Burke, ” We speak to the artists behind the ICA’s new exhibition, Looks,” i-D online, April 22
Charles Lim, “Wu Tsang, Not in my language, Migros Museum für Gegenwarskunst, Zurich 22 November – 8 February,”Art Review Asia, May 2015
Risa Puleo, “Poignancy, Potency, and Presence: “Double Life” Takes Over CAMH,” Blouin ArtInfo, March 1
Daniel Horn, “Wu Tsang Migros Museum Für Gegenwartskunst,” Artforum, March, p 296
2014
Hannah Ellis-Petersen, “Institute of Contemporary Arts show on gender, sexuality and celebrity culture, ” The Guardian, November 18
Christian Viveros-Fauńe, “The 50 Most Exciting Artists of 2014,” ArtNews, December 29
Adela Yawitz, “Wu Tsang in Berlin: A Day in the Life of Bless,” Turn on Art, July
Nonso Christian Ugbode, “You’re Dead to Me, A Mother’s Love and Regret,” Black Public Media, July 2
Michael Herren, “The Hammer Debuts ‘Made in L.A.,’” Los Angeles Confidential (online), July
Carol Cheh, “Artists at work: Wu Tsang,” East of Borneo (online), June,
Ming Lin, “Wu Tsang: Invisible Boundaries,” Art Asia Pacific, May/June, p84-85
2013
Joseph Henry, “Jon Davies Talks His New Wu Tsang Exhibition and Queer Curation,” Blouin Artinfo Canada, November 13
Paul Soto, “Wu Tsang, Michael Benevento,” Flash Art, October, p.162
Travis Diehl, “Wu Tsang, Michael Benevento,” Artforum, Vol 52. No.2, October, p.304
“Wu Tsang at Michael Benevento,” Mousse Magazine, Summer 2013, Issue 39, p.284
Robin Newman, “Wu Tsang, Michael Benevento, Los Angeles,” art agenda, July 1
Adham Faramaky, “Wanna make love in this club (in this club),” I-D Magazine, June p254
Christopher Knight, “Wu Tsang at Michael Benevento Gallery,” L.A. Times, June 6
Andrew Berardini, “Wu Tsang, Wildness,” Vdrome online
May
Catherine Wangley, “Five Artsy Thing to Do in L.A., This Week Including a Whistling Performance,” L.A. Weekly, May 15-17 2013, Vol.35 Issue 26, p142
Thomas J. Lax, “Feeling Conceptual,” Mousse Magazine, April/May, p130-139
Andrew Russeth, “Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants for Wu Tsang, Matt Hoyt, MPA and More,” Gallerist NY, January 16
2012
Jacob Brown, ” Twelve Out of ’12,” T-Magazine, December, p.157
Rosalia Jovanovic, “The 15 Hottest Artists of the Summer,” Gallerist NY, July 24
Kate Linthicum, ” Outfest: Wu Tsang’s ‘Wildness’ documents the Silver Platter scene,” L.A. Times, July 13
Nicci Yin, “Wu Tsang in the Biennial and Triennial,” Artlog, March 13th
Howard Halle, “Review: Whitney Biennial 2012,” Time Out Magazine, March 2
Roberta Smith, “A Survey of a Different Color – 2012 Whitney Biennial,” New York Times, March 2
Chloe Wyma, “‘I Dislike the Word Visibility”: Wu Tsang on Sexuality, Creativity, and Conquering New York’s Museums,” Artinfo, March 2
Alex Gartenfeld, “Wu Tsang,” Interview Magazine, February
Sam Thorne, “Focus: Wu Tsang,” Frieze, Issue 145
Stephen Holder, “Documentary Fortnight 2012,” The New York Times (online), February 17
Dan Duray, “Meet Wu Tsang, Soon to Be Featured in Every Show in Town,” The New York Observer (online), February 14
Aimee Walleston, “In Both Bi-and Triennial, Wu Tsang Talks Community,” Art in America, February 14
Jerry Portwood, “American Realness,” Out Magazine, February 14
Hilarie M. Sheets, “Feb 15: The Ungovernables,” W Magazine, February
Chloe Wyma, “ The Show Down: Handicapping the Great Whitney Biennial Vs. New Museum Triennial Face Off of 2012,” February 14
Rachel Corbett, Emily Nathan and Walter Robinson, “The Ungovernables – The New Capital: A Cheat Sheet,” Artnet, February 13
2011
Anja Isabel Schneider, “Wu Tsang,” Kaleidoscope, Issue 12, Fall, p102
Kevin McGarry, “Wu Tsang: body quotations, back-breaking sparkle and the dissemination of wildness”, Mousse Magazine, Issue 30, October/ November p127-129
Holland Cotter, “Wu Tsang”, The New York Times, July 8, p27
Claire Barlinat, “Wu Tsang,” The New Yorker, July 2011
Kimberly Lightbody, “BashCompactor: Wu Tsang’s Clan,” June 29
Gillian Tozer, “When Tables Turn: The Table at the New Museum,” Opening Ceremony, June 24
Antonio Scoccimarro, “Preview: Wu Tsang,” Mousse Magazine, Summer Issue
Lauren Cornell, “Two Questions for Wu Tsang,” Rhizome, June22
Ashley W Simpson, “Silver Screen,’ Interview, June/July, p33
Vargas, Chris, “Interview: Wu Tsang,” Original Plumbing, February 20
Corrine Fitzpatrick, “Critics Pick,” Artforum.com, June
2009
Doyle, J., “Art Versus Sport,” X-TRA Magazine, Summer
Wilson, J.-B., “Mixed Signals: Artists Consider Masculinity and Sports,” LACMA
Cotter, H.: “Tainted Love,” The New York Times, June
2008
Coburn, T., “Then and Now: Desire on Screen,” rhizome.org, August 5
Ball, K., “In Sight, Out of Focus: Marriage, the union of Wu Tsang and Math Bass,” PSi #14: Interregnum: In Between States
Bordowitz, G., “Sentiment, Belief, and Medium”, Film, Avant-Garde and Biopolitics
2006
Matt, W., “The Uncertain States of America Reader, New Live Queer Art,” Sternberg Press
2005
Johndrow, R., “Artist centre show: Better than Halberstam” The Peak, Arts – Issue 6, Vol. 119, Feb 14
2004
Bayne, M., “Headline: Critic’s Choice’ Chicago Reader – Section I, Oct 8, p.8
Armstrong, L., “Group Efforts: the revolution will be televised”, Chicago Reader – Art, Section I, Sept 3
Wu Tsang
September 3rd – October 31st, 2015
The voice is translated, and it’s a mechanism for a sometimes faulty transcription, as Tsang often plays with through full body quotation. “Off-communicability,” a term that Moten invents during their cross talk, becomes a useful term in thinking about what it means to speak to, to speak for, and to speak through. – Rita Gonzales, “Speech Acts,” in Wu Tsang: Not in My Language (2015)
Clifton Benevento is pleased to present the second solo exhibition of Los Angeles based filmmaker, visual and performance artist Wu Tsang. Featuring an ongoing collaboration with poet and critical theorist Fred Moten, two videos and a pair of sculptures each occupy corners of the gallery space, performing a mode of dialogue embodied within the individual works.
Standing at one end of the gallery with Moten and Tsang each occupying an individual monitor, Miss Communication and Mr:Re (2014) stages a series of deliberate missed encounters. Presented first as a performance, and now as a two-channel video, the project developed from a series of voicemail messages Moten and Tsang left for each other everyday over a two-week period, from different time zones. So characteristic of the voicemail medium itself, the work is at once a fragmented overlap of two distinct monologues and an intertwined role of artist and poet. As Moten riffs on the word ‘drag’, vulnerable expressions, simultaneously fresh-faced and smeared with make-up, are fixed upon the viewer.
Girl Talk (2015), features Moten performing in ‘dragged time’ slow motion in counterpoint to an acappella rendition of Betty Carter’s jazz standard “Girl Talk” (reinterpreted and performed by JosiahWise). It is through this dynamic that the collaboration is carried out, Tsang’s role as filmmaker constituting a strong intervention in the voice of the work. Wearing a velvet cloak covered in jewels, Moten turns euphorically in a sunlit garden as the crystals adorning his body refract pink, blue, and green rays. In exploring the figure of the drag queen and the mother, Moten and Tsang, poet and artist, remain unfixed in any one persona.
Two sculptures offer a playful yet complex meditation on the relationship between language and the expression of a role. Part shaman, part alien and vaguely human in form, the works are draped in sheaths of flesh-colored fabric, crystals dripping from their folds. The sculptures silently communicate between themselves while the videos alternate full volume sound and subtitles. Choreographed in a subtle sequence of marks within the exhibition, each work calls to the other, but leaves just enough space for conversation to ebb and flow.
Miss Communication and Mr:Re was commissioned by CAM Houston for the group show “Double Life,” 2014-15.
Wu Tsang’s first solo museum show “Not in My Language” debuted at Migros Museum (Zurich) in 2015. Her projects have been presented at MoMA (NY), MCA (Chicago), MoCA (Los Angeles), Tate Modern and ICA (London) and the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam). Recent group exhibitions include “Real Humans” at Kunsthalle Dusseldorf and “Made in LA” at the Hammer Museum. In 2012 Tsang participated in the Whitney, Gwangju and Liverpool Biennials while her first feature film WILDNESS won the Grand Jury Prize for Outstanding Documentary at Outfest. Her performance ‘Full Body Quotation’ was presented as part of Performa 11 at the New Museum in advance of the 2012 Triennial. Tsang is a 2015 receipt of a Creative Capital grant. Her first monograph “Not in My Language” was published earlier this year.
The exhibition runs from September 3 to October 31, 2015; opening reception begins at 5pm on Thursday, September 3rd. The gallery is located at 515 Broadway (between Broome/Spring), New York, NY and open Tue-Sat, 11-6pm. For more information please contact Michael at 212.431.6325 or mc@cliftonbenevento.com.
Matthew Shen Goodman, “Wu Tsang, Clifton Benevento.” Frieze Magazine. November Issue, 2015, p165.
PDF OF REVIEW
Rachel Rakes, “Wu Tsang, Clifton Benevento.” Art Agenda. October 26, 2015.
PDF OF REVIEW
“Wu Tsang, Clifton Benevento.” Art in America online. October 15, 2015.
PDF OF REVIEW
Risa Puleo, “Wu Tsang and Fred Moten Trade Voicemail at Clifton Benevento.” Blouin Artinfo. September 26, 2015.
PDF OF REVIEW
“Wu Tsang, Clifton Benevento.” CURA online. September 22, 2015.
PDF OF REVIEW
Nicolas Linnert, “Wu Tsang.” Artforum Online. September 11, 2015.
PDF OF REVIEW