Ming Wong

Ming Wong (b. 1971, Singapore) currently lives and works in Berlin. His interdisciplinary practice incorporating performance, video and installation unravels ideas of ‘authenticity’ and the ‘other’ with reference to the act of human performativity. In recent years, he has had strong theatrical interests in the intersection of sci-fi and traditional Chinese culture, particularly Cantonese opera. Wong uses this speculative association to tackle issues such as Chinese modernity, the role of popular culture in building national identities. His works often assemble languages and personalities to create their own “World Cinema”.

Wong represented Singapore at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009 with the solo presentation Life of Imitation, which was awarded a special mention. His solo exhibitions include Pictures from the Wayang Spaceship, Ota Fine Arts, Singapore (2023), Fake Daughter's Secret Room of Shame, ASAKUSA, Tokyo, Japan (2019), Notes Toward A Chinese Science Fiction Opera, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2016), Next Year / L’Année Prochaine, Ullens Center of Contemporary Art, Beijing, China (2015), Me in Me, Shiseido Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2013), Ming Wong: Making Chinatown, REDCAT, Los Angeles, USA (2012), Persona Performa, Performa 11 at the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, USA (2011), Life of Imitation, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan/ CAST Gallery, North Hobart, Tasmania, Australia/ Frye Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, USA (2011)/ Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2010)/ Singapore Pavilion, 53rd Venice Biennale, Italy (2009). Group exhibitions include Signals: How Video Transformed the World, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA (2023), Pier Paolo Pasolini: Tutto è santo. The political body, MAXXI, Rome, Italy (2022), Global(e) Resistance, Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2020), Sunshower. Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now, Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan (2019), Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2017), Spectrosynthesis. Asian LGBTQ Issues & Art Now, Museum of Contemporary Art Taipei, Taiwan (2017), Chinese Whispers. Recent Art from the Sigg & M+ Sigg Collections, Kunstmuseum Bern, Bern, Switzerland (2016), and numerous art tri-/bi-ennials in Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Sydney, Brisbane, Aichi, Taichung, Hawai'i, Lyon, Liverpool, Dakar, Jakarta. His works are also in the collections of Singapore Art Museum; M+, Hong Kong; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin.