Wu Tsang. Of Whales

In February 2023, TBA21 presents Of Whales, an exhibition by American artist Wu Tsang. TBA21 showcases a multi-part project created by the artist drawing from her research around Herman Melville’s classic American novel Moby-Dick, tackling its subterranean currents. The work will be presented on the occasion of a solo exhibition at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid. The exhibition will be centered around Of Whales (2022) in a unique and immersive display, following its premiere at the Venice Biennale. 

Of Whales, an immersive real-time video installation that offers a poetic meditation on the whale’s perspective, through a deep dive into an oceanic cosmos that is alluded to in Herman Melville’s tale. First presented at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, the work was created on the Unity gaming platform as a dynamically generated real-time video and sound installation, which envelops visitors in an oceanscape-cosmos for respite, contemplation, and provocation. 
 
Of Whales refocuses the source material’s profound meditation on knowledge, exoticism, and eroticism through a postcolonial lens, imagined from the perspective of the whale. The immensity of the ocean becomes a symbol of the unknown; reflections gesture to the presence of oblique perspectives and complexify the idea that any point of view is singular or straightforward.

The exhibition will be accompanied by an extensive public program in collaboration with Wu Tsang, EducaThyssen, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and Institute for Postnatural Studies, amongst others.

Wu Tsang (1982, Massachusetts, United States) is an award-winning artist and filmmaker whose work crosses genres and disciplines, from narrative and documentary films to live performances and video installations. Her works are frequently created in collaboration with figures involved in art, music, dance, literature, including the performance collective Moved by the Motion and the scholar and poet Fred Moten, suggesting the capacity for art to express a multiplicity of voices.

Tsang is a MacArthur 'Genius' Fellow, and her projects have been presented at museums, biennials, and film festivals internationally. Awards include 2016 Guggenheim Fellow (Film/Video), 2018 Hugo Boss Prize Nominee, Creative Capital, Rockefeller Foundation, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, and Warhol Foundation. Tsang received her BFA (2004) from the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and an MFA (2010) from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Currently Tsang works in residence at Schauspielhaus Zurich, as a director of theater with the collective Moved by the Motion.

Of Whales

21st February - 11th June

Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

Wu Tsang

CURATOR: Soledad Gutiérrez

On the cover: Wu Tsang, "Of Whales", 2022. Courtesy: Wu Tsang, Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin; Antenna Space, Shanghai; Cabinet, London © Nicholas Turki. Design: Jotateam Studio.

Source: TBA21