53rd Venice Biennale

LIFE OF IMITATION 53RD VENICE BIENNALELIFE OF IMITATION
53RD VENICE BIENNALE

Ming Wong represented Singapore at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009.
Playing with language, performance and identity, Ming revisited Singapore’s ‘Golden Age’ of cinema in the 50s and 60s, to re-imagine ‘national cinema’. A 14th-century palazzo on the Grand Canal near the Rialto, was transformed into a cinematic Wunderkammer where both archival and re-invented materials, the real and the fictional, co-habit.

In the 6 room palazzo, Ming Wong created 3 multi-screen installations inspired by classics of world cinema, alongside collaborative artworks by Singapore´s last cinema billboard painter, a private collector of cine-memorabilia and a documentary-maker.

The curator of the Singapore Pavillon was Tang Fu Kuen.

Ming Wong was awarded a Special Mention (Expanding Worlds) by the International Jury of the 53rd Venice Biennale.