WANG TUO

From June 6, 2021 to September 5, 2021, UCCA Center for Contemporary Art presents Wang Tuo: Empty-handed into History. As Wang Tuo’s (b. 1984, Changchun) first institutional solo show, this exhibition collects eight of the artist’s single- and multi-channel video works, including, in its complete form for the first time, The Northeast Tetralogy, as well as related archival materials and sketches from the artist, presenting an overview of the artist’s early-career works. The exhibition’s title alludes to a view of history described by Japanese historian Yuzo Mizoguchi, in which one “enters history in a state of unconsciousness” and thereby discovers its original form. This notion outlines the core of Wang’s creative methodology, as well as the critical role the artist has played in processes of deconstructing the past and imagining alternative, speculative histories. Wang Tuo: Empty-handed into History is curated by UCCA Curator Luan Shixuan and organized by Wang Ziwei and Shi Yao. The exhibition space is designed by Anna Yang.

About the Artist

Wang Tuo (b. 1984, Changchun, lives and works in Beijing) graduated from Tsinghua University in 2012 and the School of Visual Arts, Boston University, in 2014 with MFAs in painting. His major solo exhibitions include “Standing at the Crossroads” (WHITE SPACE, Beijing, 2020); “Wang Tuo: Smoke and Fire” (Present Company, New York, 2019); “Monkey Grammarians” (Salt Projects, Beijing, 2017); and “A Little Violence of Organized Forgetting” (Taikang Space, Beijing, 2016). Major group exhibitions include the 13th Shanghai Biennale (2021), “MMCA Asia Project – Looking for Another Family” (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, 2020); “Psyche and Politics” (Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden, 2019); “New Metallurgists” (Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, 2018); “One Northeast” (Zarya Center of Contemporary Art, Vladivostok, 2018); and “Nine” (Queens Museum, New York, 2017).