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* '''Tied and True (2012):''' Co-written with [[Nana Oforiatta-Ayim]], the film takes place in a fictional post-colonial African city, inspired by Île Saint-Louis, Senegal. It tells the story of two star-crossed lovers while exploring the themes of assimilation, alterity and racism.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/06/entertainment/la-et-cm-wu-tsang-michael-benevento-gallery-20130603|title=Wu Tsang at Michael Benevento Gallery|last=Knight|first=Christopher|date=2013-06-06|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-03-04|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref>
* '''Tied and True (2012):''' Co-written with [[Nana Oforiatta-Ayim]], the film takes place in a fictional post-colonial African city, inspired by Île Saint-Louis, Senegal. It tells the story of two star-crossed lovers while exploring the themes of assimilation, alterity and racism.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/06/entertainment/la-et-cm-wu-tsang-michael-benevento-gallery-20130603|title=Wu Tsang at Michael Benevento Gallery|last=Knight|first=Christopher|date=2013-06-06|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-03-04|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref>
* '''Mishima in Mexico (2012):''' Starring Alex Segade and Wu Tsang, the film is inspired by the 1950 novel by Yukio Mishima, Thirst for Love. It takes place in Mexico City, where a writer and director check into a hotel together to work through their creative process, while integrating Mishima's work into their own, and into their lives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/wu-tsang/|title=Wu Tsang|publisher=art-agenda.com|access-date=2015-12-17}}</ref>
* '''Mishima in Mexico (2012):''' Starring Alex Segade and Wu Tsang, the film is inspired by the 1950 novel by Yukio Mishima, Thirst for Love. It takes place in Mexico City, where a writer and director check into a hotel together to work through their creative process, while integrating Mishima's work into their own, and into their lives.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/wu-tsang/|title=Wu Tsang|publisher=art-agenda.com|access-date=2015-12-17}}</ref>
* '''Wildness (2012):''' This film tells the story of the weekly party and clinic Tsang hosted at the Silver Platter bar in the [[MacArthur Park]] area of [[Los Angeles, CA]]. The film is a "whimsically fictional account" of the events that transpired at the Silver Platter, and is narrated by both Tsang and (in Spanish) the Silver Platter. As Tsang stated in a 2016 interview, "The more subjective I could be in telling my own experience of the situation, the more ethical I could be to my subjects and collaborators."<ref>https://frieze.com/article/focus-wu-tsang</ref> In an interview with Art Basel, Wu Tsang said she approached this film as more as an activist than a filmmaker. She continues by saying she "felt there was an important story to tell about the lives of [her] friends at the bar, many of whom were trans women and undocumented immigrants, often struggling with overlapping invisibilities, and thriving despite intense conditions of violence and policing."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jeni |first1=Fulton |title=How I became an artist: Wu Tsang |url=https://www.artbasel.com/news/wu-tsang-how-i-became-an-artist-art-basel |website=Art Basel |access-date=2020-11-30}}</ref>
* '''Wildness (2012):''' This film tells the story of the weekly party and clinic Tsang hosted at the Silver Platter bar in the [[MacArthur Park]] area of [[Los Angeles, CA]]. The film is a "whimsically fictional account" of the events that transpired at the Silver Platter, and is narrated by both Tsang and (in Spanish) the Silver Platter. As Tsang stated in a 2016 interview, "The more subjective I could be in telling my own experience of the situation, the more ethical I could be to my subjects and collaborators."<ref>https://frieze.com/article/focus-wu-tsang</ref> In an interview with Art Basel, Wu Tsang said she approached this film as more as an activist than a filmmaker. She continues by saying she "felt there was an important story to tell about the lives of [her] friends at the bar, many of whom were trans women and undocumented immigrants, often struggling with overlapping invisibilities, and thriving despite intense conditions of violence and policing."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jeni |first1=Fulton |title=How I became an artist: Wu Tsang |url=https://www.artbasel.com/news/wu-tsang-how-i-became-an-artist-art-basel |website=Art Basel |access-date=2020-11-30}}</ref> Wu Tsang describes the making of Wilderness as a learning process in which she taught herself to "write, direct, and edit".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ballard|first=Finn Jackson|date=2014-08-01|title=Wu Tsang's Wildness and the Quest for Queer Utopia|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article/1/3/461/24779/Wu-Tsang-s-Wildness-and-the-Quest-for-Queer-Utopia|journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly|language=en|volume=1|issue=3|pages=461–465|doi=10.1215/23289252-2687555|issn=2328-9252}}</ref>


==Awards and honors==
==Awards and honors==

Revision as of 04:43, 1 December 2020

Wu Tsang
Born1982
Worcester, Massachusetts
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Filmmaker
  • performer
  • artist
Awards
[edit on Wikidata]

Wu Tsang (born 1982 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is a filmmaker, artist and performer based in New York and Berlin, whose work is concerned with hidden histories, marginalized narratives, and the act of performing itself.[1] In 2018, Tsang received a MacArthur "genius" grant.[1]

According to Tsang, her films, videos, and performances look to explore the "in-betweeness" in which people and ideas cannot be discussed in binary terms.[2] Generally, her films form a hybrid of narrative and documentary; they do not conform fully to one form or the other.[2]

Education

Wu Tsang received a B.F.A. (2004) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an M.F.A. (2010) from the University of California at Los Angeles. [1]

Work

Film

Tsang's best-known documentary, Wildness,[3] documents the Los Angeles trans bar "Silver Platter".[4] Wu Tsang directed and produced the film. It was co-written with Roya Rastegar. The film was premiered at the MoMA Documentary Fortnight in New York and has been screened at festivals in Canada, the US, and Chile. Since 1963, "Silver Platter" has been a historic bar that patronised by a predominantly Latin LGBT community. Wildness documents what happens when a group of young artists host a weekly performance night at the bar. Documenting the collision between the two LGBT communities, the film poses questions about community, space, and ownership. In an interview, Tsang describes how this film represents a number of people who are often stereotyped, such as trans people, people of color, and queer communities, and she experiments with how to be accountable to the communities that she documents.[5] Her collaborators include poet and scholar Fred Moten as well as performance artist boychild.[6]

Short films

Wu Tsang's short films include:

  • Duilian (2015): The film explores the life and writings of Qiu Jin, a Chinese feminist revolutionary who was executed at the age of 31 for attempting to foment revolution against the Qing dynasty. Lesser known, and highlighted in the film, is her long-term queer relationship with calligrapher Wu Zhuying. Wu Tsang plays Wu Zhuying, and long-time Wu Tsang collaborator, Boychild, plays Qiu Jin.[7] The film illuminates the use of Qui Jin's poems (translated in english for the first time) and Wushu Martial Arts to create "jarring yet beautiful scenes."[1]
  • You're Dead to Me (2013): In suburban California, a Chicana mother is mourning the death of her teenage daughter two years earlier. On the eve of Dia de los Muertos, everything changes when Death offers her a choice she could not make in life. The cast includes Laura Patalano and Harmony Santana. The film was widely shown in LGBT and other film festivals, and won various awards, including best short and best actress.[8]
  • Tied and True (2012): Co-written with Nana Oforiatta-Ayim, the film takes place in a fictional post-colonial African city, inspired by Île Saint-Louis, Senegal. It tells the story of two star-crossed lovers while exploring the themes of assimilation, alterity and racism.[9]
  • Mishima in Mexico (2012): Starring Alex Segade and Wu Tsang, the film is inspired by the 1950 novel by Yukio Mishima, Thirst for Love. It takes place in Mexico City, where a writer and director check into a hotel together to work through their creative process, while integrating Mishima's work into their own, and into their lives.[10]
  • Wildness (2012): This film tells the story of the weekly party and clinic Tsang hosted at the Silver Platter bar in the MacArthur Park area of Los Angeles, CA. The film is a "whimsically fictional account" of the events that transpired at the Silver Platter, and is narrated by both Tsang and (in Spanish) the Silver Platter. As Tsang stated in a 2016 interview, "The more subjective I could be in telling my own experience of the situation, the more ethical I could be to my subjects and collaborators."[11] In an interview with Art Basel, Wu Tsang said she approached this film as more as an activist than a filmmaker. She continues by saying she "felt there was an important story to tell about the lives of [her] friends at the bar, many of whom were trans women and undocumented immigrants, often struggling with overlapping invisibilities, and thriving despite intense conditions of violence and policing."[12] Wu Tsang describes the making of Wilderness as a learning process in which she taught herself to "write, direct, and edit".[13]

Awards and honors

In 2012, Tsang was named one of Filmmaker Magazine's "25 New Faces of Independent Film".[5] At Outfest 2012, Wildness won the Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Documentary.[14] Also in 2012, her work was featured in the Whitney Biennial and the New Museum Triennial. She won the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists award (2013).[15] In 2014, she was included in the Hammer Museum's 2014 "Made in L.A." biennial.[16] In 2015 she received a Creative Capital Award for A Day in the Life of Bliss. Tsang received the MacArthur Genius Award in 2018.[17]

Filmography

  • Wildness

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Wu Tsang - MacArthur Foundation". www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2018-10-09.
  2. ^ a b Greenberger, Alex (2019-03-26). "Take Me Apart: Wu Tsang's Art Questions Everything We Think We Know About Identity". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-05-23.
  3. ^ Cheh, Carol (June 30, 2014). "Artists at Work: Wu Tsang". East of Borneo. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  4. ^ "¿Qué pasó con los martes? - WILDNESS THE MOVIE - trailer". wildnessmovie.com. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  5. ^ a b "Wu Tsang | Filmmaker Magazine". filmmakermagazine.com. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  6. ^ Trigger : gender as a tool and a weapon. Burton, Johanna,, Bell, Natalie,, New Museum (New York, N.Y.). [New York, NY]. 2017. ISBN 9780915557165. OCLC 1011099218.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ^ "Artist Wu Tsang on her new film exploring the life of 'China's first feminist', Qiu Jin". Time Out HK. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  8. ^ "Official Page, You're Dead To Me - Short". Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  9. ^ Knight, Christopher (2013-06-06). "Wu Tsang at Michael Benevento Gallery". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  10. ^ "Wu Tsang". art-agenda.com. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
  11. ^ https://frieze.com/article/focus-wu-tsang
  12. ^ Jeni, Fulton. "How I became an artist: Wu Tsang". Art Basel. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  13. ^ Ballard, Finn Jackson (2014-08-01). "Wu Tsang's Wildness and the Quest for Queer Utopia". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 1 (3): 461–465. doi:10.1215/23289252-2687555. ISSN 2328-9252.
  14. ^ "Outfest 2012". outfest.org. Retrieved 2014-07-25.
  15. ^ "Wu Tsang :: Foundation for Contemporary Arts". www.foundationforcontemporaryarts.org. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  16. ^ "Made in L.A.: Wu Tsang". Hammer Museum. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  17. ^ "Wu Tsang - MacArthur Foundation". www.macfound.org. Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  1. ^ Judah, Hettie (2017-05-17). "Sister of the sword: Wu Tsang, the trans artist retelling history with lesbian kung fu". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-03-23.
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