Wu Tsang: Wildness
2 February 2013, 8pm
The Tanks at Tate Modern
Bankside, London SE1 8TG
Wu Tsang is an artist, performer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. This special live screening event features the UK premiere of TsangÕs acclaimed film Wildness (2012) and his early video The Shape of a Right Statement (2008).
The Shape of a Right Statement, USA 2008, HD Video, 5.15 min
Staring directly at the camera, Tsang re-performs one section of 'In My Language', a forceful address by autism rights activist Amanda Baggs. Tsang's powerful video manifesto was shot at The Silver Platter, home to his club Wildness, following a year in which the artist had presented live performances of the Baggs text. Tsang mimetically reproduces the voice of Baggs's Speech Generation Device, stating, 'It is only when I type something in your language that you refer to me as having communication.' Camera: A.L. Steiner
Wildness, USA 2012, HDCAM, 75 min
Wildness is a portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic bar on the eastside of Los Angeles that has
catered to the Latin immigrant and queer community since 1963. With a touch of magical-realism, the bar itself becomes a character in the film.
Voiced by a transgender actress from Guatemala, it whispers the histories of the LGBT community for whom it has provided sanctuary
and a 'safe space' for generations.
The film captures the creativity and conflict that ensue when a group of young, queer artists of colour (Wu Tsang, DJs NGUZUNGUZU and Total Freedom)
organise a weekly performance party, also called Wildness, at the bar. This emergent underground interfaces with the emigrant transwomen who have long
populated the venue and the Silver Platter becomes a charged forum for forging coalitions and exploring class, community and activism.
Wildness received its world premiere at MoMAÕs Documentary Fortnight. Wu TsangÕs work has been shown recently in the 2012 Whitney Biennial
and New Museum Triennial inNew York, the ICA Philadelphia, MOCA Los Angeles and the Gwangju Biennial (South Korea). Tsang is a 2012 Louis
Comfort Tiffany Fellow and has received support from the Good Works Foundation, Frameline, the Wexner Center for the Arts, the IFP
Documentary Lab, Art Matters, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
Writers: Wu Tsang and Roya Rastegar
Producer: Kathy Rivkin
Camera: Michelle Lawler
Editors: Claire Didier and Wu Tsang
Original Music: NGUZUNGUZU, Total Freedom and Robbie Williamson
Image: Wu Tsang, Wildness, 2012, courtesy of the artist
