Lee Mingwei and His Relations: The Art of Participation

‘When my maternal grandmother passed way, I still had many things to say to her but it was too late. For the next year and a half I wrote many letters to her, as if she were still alive, in order to share my thoughts and feelings with her.

For The Letter Writing Project, I invited visitors to write the letters they had always meant to but never taken time for. Each of three writing booths, constructed of wood and translucent glass, contained a desk and writing materials. Visitors could enter one of the three booths and write a letter to a deceased or otherwise absent loved one, offering previously unexpressed gratitude, forgiveness or apology.

They could then seal and address their letters (for posting by the museum) or leave them unsealed in one of the slots on the wall of the booth, where later visitors could read them. Many later visitors come to realise, through reading the letters of others that they too carried unexpressed feelings that they would feel relieved to write down and perhaps share. In this way, a chain of feeling was created, reminding visitors of the larger world of emotions in which we all participate. In the end, it was the spirit of the writer that was comforted, whether the letter was ever read by the intended recipient or others.’ – Lee Mingwei

This project is generously supported by Sue Fisher Trust.

Over the centuries, a number of artists, spiritual leaders and philosophers have deepened their thinking by focusing on the realm of relationships. Similarly, the essence of Lee Mingwei’s art practice lies in the ‘relationships’ born out of people’s participation, and in thinking about ‘connections’ forming the continuity of human relations. Concepts such as gifting and trust are also integral to Lee Mingwei’s art.

This exhibition includes artworks and quotations by 12 (including currency coil) artists, spiritual leaders and thinkers ranging from the Zen priest Hakuin to contemporary artists. These people did not necessarily have a direct influence on or contact with Lee Mingwei. Rather, they are people who focused their awareness on the self and others, heaven and earth, the concept of ‘nothingness’ and ‘emptiness’ which also resonates with the Buddhist worldview, or who expressed the Zen philosophy of undertaking everyday activities mindfully.

You will also be introduced to artists who to different extents considered Eastern ideas as they thought about immateriality, silence, the infinite and the everyday. Lee Mingwei once studied under Suzanne Lacy, who herself had been a student of Allan Kaprow. Kaprow was influenced by John Cage, who attended lectures by D T Suzuki. Lee Mingwei’s relationships with a wider world not limited to the realm of art, as well as his attempts to build one-to-one relationships with strangers, suggests certain affinities. Artists from Auckland Art Gallery’s collection and from other New Zealand collections are also included. We invite you to compare these thoughts and works with the various projects undertaken by Lee Mingwei, and enjoy the resonance.

‘This project originated in a high school experience, when I travelled on an overnight train from Paris to Prague, sharing my sleeper compartment with an elderly Polish gentleman who was going back to receive his compensation after surviving the horrors of a Nazi concentration camp. At my request, he shared memories of this experience and also told me about things his family and others had told him about their time in the camp. He was the only survivor in his family. After our conversation, he bade me goodnight and went to sleep soundly.

I was the person who was not able to sleep, realising that, years ago, there were people travelling on these kinds of nights, possibly on the same track, who would not live until morning. It is only after all these years that I am able to create a project in response to the emotions I experienced that night.

In The Sleeping Project, I examine the differences between ‘sleeping’ and ‘sleeping with’. How do two strangers shape a night together into an open, profound, mutually influential encounter that they know will not be sexual? Each night, a participant chosen by lottery is asked to bring objects from the space in which they usually sleep – a clock, a photo – and spend the night with me. Next morning, the participant leaves these objects on the nightstand. During the remainder of the exhibition, these personal objects provide gallery visitors with clues about the interactions between myself/hosts and the anonymous overnight guests; interactions that suggest the range of ways in which individuals experience intimacy and trust when confronted with an unknown other.’  – Lee Mingwei

How to participate in The Sleeping Project

Dates

2016

7, 21, 28 November

5, 12 December

2017

16, 23 January

13 February

If you wish to take part in The Sleeping Project please fill out a ballot slip in the exhibition with your name, age (participants must be 18 or older), contact details, choice of date and a message. Please place the slip in the box. A Gallery staff member will serve as the host, and invite those who have been selected to participate a least one week prior to the selected date.

Those taking part will be asked, for the duration of the exhibition, to bring and lend some items from the space in which they usually sleep. The participant is asked to talk about these items with the host before sleeping. Although the content of the conversations that will unfold in the Gallery will not be recorded or made public, the personal items of those who participate in this project will be remain on the nightstands and become part of the artwork for the duration of the exhibition.

The night will be spent in The Sleeping Project exhibition space. Please be aware in advance that participants are able to use the nearby Gallery washrooms during the night, but there are no other facilities available during the night. The only refreshment during the night will be a glass of water. Participants are asked to bring their own sleep wear. Bedding and bedlinen is provided.

‘100 Days with Lily was created at a time when I was grieving the death of my maternal grandmother. I chose to live with it 24/7 for the following 100 days, as a form of ritual grieving for her. From the day I planted the lily bulb, through its germination, sprouting, blossoming, fading and death, I experienced at close hand a full cycle of its life and, by extension, my grandmother’s and my own. I randomly chose a moment in each day to document what I was doing with the lily present.

In the final presentation, text was overlaid onto five of the photographs to create images showing both various stages of lily’s life and my activities at various moments: day 1, 10:23, planting lily; day 2, 06:34, sleeping with lily; day 3, 12:05, eating with lily; day 4, 09:14, walking with lily; day 5, 07:12, meditating with lily. Lily died on day 79, at which point I postponed the exhumation and carried the now dormant lily bulb in my hands for the remaining 21 days as I ate, walked, slept, gardened, bicycled, shopped, cooked, read and contemplated, until I had lived with the lily for the full 100 days.’ – Lee Mingwei

‘While visiting New Zealand’s South Island, I was awed to discover the Pororari River Valley, a wonder of nature sculpted by glacial movement 70 million years ago. That glacier also produced millions of smooth round stones which now line the river’s bed, and which I found unusually cool and soothing when I held them in the palms of my hands. While picking up 11 of these stones as souvenirs, I suddenly realised that simply by taking them out of the river I was changing their circumstances forever. When I returned to Taipei, I had each of the 11 stones replicated in bronze, yielding 11 pairs, one original and one bronze replica.

This project centres on two ideas. First is the notion of ownership. What does it mean to own something, either natural or manmade? Second is the concept of value. Which stone is more precious, the natural stone or the fabricated one?

I ask those who become the owners of these stone pairs to decide when, where and how to discard one of them, a decision involving considerations of ownership, control, value and loss. It is this thinking/valuing process that I believe to be the heart of the project, not the stone pairs themselves.’ – Lee Mingwei

‘The Mending Project is an interactive conceptual installation in which I use very simple elements – thread, colour, sewing – as points of departure for gaining insights into the relationships among self, other and immediate surroundings. It also constitutes an act of sharing between myself and a stranger.

Visitors initially see a long table, two chairs and a wall of colourful cone-shaped spools of thread. During Gallery hours, I or a host are seated at that table, to which visitors could bring various damaged textile articles, choose the colour of thread they wish, and watch as I mend the article. The mended article, with thread ends still attached, is then placed on the table along with previously mended items. Owners return to the Gallery to collect their mended articles on the last day of the exhibition.

The act of mending takes on emotional value as well, depending on how personal the damaged item is, e.g., a favourite shirt versus an old but little-used tablecloth. This emotional mending is marked by the use of thread which is not the colour of the fabric around it, and often colourfully at odds with that fabric, as though to commemorate the repair. Unlike a tailor, who will try to hide the fact that the fabric was once damaged, my mending is done with the idea of celebrating the repair, as if to say, “Something good was done here, a gift was given, this fabric is even better than before.”’  – Lee Mingwei

Lee Mingwei and His Relations is on show at Auckland Art Gallery from Saturday 5 November 2016 – Sunday 19 March 2017. The exhibition is open during normal Gallery hours, 10am–5pm.

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Auckland Art Gallery Members and Members' Guests receive FREE unlimited entry to Lee Mingwei and His Relations.

We recommend allowing at least 60 minutes to view Lee Mingwei and His Relations.