INFERNO

Wang Jianwei : Performance Spiral Ramp Library / Guggenheim NYC / Thursday, February 12 and Friday, February 13, 2015, 8 pm.

Spiral Ramp Library Presented in Conjunction with Final Weeks of Artist’s Multidisciplinary Exhibition.

Spiral Ramp Library is a key component to Wang Jianwei’s multidisciplinary exhibition and commission Time Temple that features sculpture, painting, and film, and which has been on view at the museum since October 31. Conceived as the closing ceremony of the exhibition and the first commission for The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative, Spiral Ramp Library explores the nature of human knowledge and spaces of learning, such as the museum and the theater, which allow for the circulation of contemporary thought and experience.

Consisting of contemporary dance, theater, sound, and installation works, Wang Jianwei’s performance is based on the recordings of his sound performance that was made during the exhibition’s opening reception in the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda. During this recording, twenty orators spoke on ten topics, including Argentina, Jorge Luis Borges, climate, disappearance, Gnosticism, the Guggenheim Museum, library, map, universe, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Wang Jianwei views theater as an important strategy to facilitate interaction and conversation in a « communal moment of the staged event. » In Spiral Ramp Library, Wang Jianwei works with a production team from China, including sound director Chen Hongli, lighting director Wang Qi, performer He Fan, and dancers Jiang Jun, Liu Bin, and Zhang Cunliang.

Images : 1- Wang Jianwei « The Morning Time Disappeared », 2014 / Digital color video with sound, 55 min., 8 sec., edition 1/5 / courtesy guggenheim -2 Wang Jianwei working at his Beijing studio, 2014 Photo: Xu Boxin, courtesy the artist / courtesy Guggenheim