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Taiwanese artist Lee Ming-wei to perform live online at N.Y. Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Date:2020-09-16~2020-09-30
Taiwanese artist Lee Ming-wei to perform live online at N.Y. Metropolitan Museum of Art

Notable conceptual artist Lee Ming-wei (李明維) will team up with legendary American dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones to present a site-specific iteration of Lee's durational performance work "OUR LABYRINTH (如實曲徑)" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Sept. 16, 23, and 30 for an online audience.

Described by the Taiwanese artist himself as "an embrace between creation and destruction," "OUR LABYRINTH" is a three-part project, each performance features a single cast member, a single dancer who uses a stylized broom to sweep a mound of rice along a labyrinthine path of their choosing," the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) says on the designated webpage for the event.

Performing this profoundly spiritual task, it says, the dancer may encounter obstacles along the way but continues to navigate silently and mindfully.

Jones, meanwhile, "expresses his influence on the work, a respectful conversation with Lee across time and space, through the diverse cast of performers representing the spectrum of New York dance and performance, and in the sonic landscape provided by three experimental vocalists and musicians that echo through the galleries," the museum says.

According to the Met, Lee said the upcoming performance, enriched and empowered by Bill's gift, is an offering to those who ever lived on this sacred land known as Mannahatta, as well as to every artist who collectively and unknowingly created the Metropolitan Museum, Spirit House of Mannahatta.

The museum also quotes Jones as saying there is profound meaning in doing this work at this particular moment in New York, which has experienced tremendous loss and social upheaval, oscillating between devastation and hope for the future.

Based in New York, Lee's creations are mostly participatory installations or performances that connect the artist with audience members. Everyday activities are explored through a poetic presentation and the unique relationship he has built with exhibitiongoers.

Lee focuses on creating participatory art that explores human relations and people's interactions with society, coaxing audiences to become a part of his exhibitions. He has showcased and presented his works in countries including Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and the US.

"OUR LABYRINTH," originally performed at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and Centre Pompidou, will be streamed on youtube over three weeks from three Met galleries.

'OUR LABYRINTH'
Date: Sept. 16, 23, and 30
Site: https://www.youtube.com/user/metmuseum