Interview with Ming Wong: Singapore's artist at the Venice Biennale

Marking Singapore’s fifth consecutive attendance at one of the world’s most talked about arts events, artist Ming Wong will be taking over this year as he represents the island at the 53rd Venice Biennale. In response to the choice of this year’s theme, ‘Making Worlds’, the internationally exhibited artist will be displaying a series of multi-screen video installations where he will re-stage classic cinema moments, using either actors or himself, in the hope of crossing barriers of language, race, gender, age and nationality. Time Out Singapore catches up with Wong to get the scoop on what to expect.

Your work seems to be a lot about re-contextualising history. Would you consider yourself a historian of sorts?

I am working very closely with Tang Fukuen, the curator for the exhibition, and we both have a passion for cinema and its history, particularly in this part of the world. Where I come from and who I am – [these] are key questions I ask, and the history of Singapore and our collective memory of what has passed, and disappeared so quickly, are vital elements of my ongoing research and practice. The remarkable thing is that such issues of identity and identification are becoming more pressing and relevant in a globalised society; the context is localised, but the search is universal.

I hear you’re collaborating with Singapore’s last surviving billboard painter.

Mr Neo Chon Teck has painted several large cinema billboard canvases for my video installations, based on sketches and photographs I prepared for him, which we will display prominently in the Pavilion. The billboards mark a return of my work to its cinematic source – they are big, dramatic and overwhelming – a bold statement in defiance of the imminent passing of this artform.

Seriously, that’s pretty spectacular. Any last words about what we should expect with regards to the Singapore Pavilion?

Well, for those who can’t make it to Venice, the curator and I are working hard to bring the show back to Singapore in its entirety. So watch this space!

When: The 53^rd Venice Biennale runs from 7 Jun to 22 Nov.