Tsai, Beth
(2017)
The Many Faces Of Tsai Ming-liang:
Cinephilia, The French Connection,
And Cinema In The Gallery.
International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 13 (2).
pp. 141-160.
ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243
Abstract
The Malaysia-born, Taiwan-based flmmaker Tsai Ming-liang's Visage (2009) is a
flm that was commissioned by the Louvre as part of its collection. His move to the
museum space raises a number of questions: What are some of the implications of
his shift in practice? What does it mean to have a flm, situated in art galleries or
museum space, invites us to think about the notion of cinema, spatial confguration,
transnational co-production and consumption? To give these questions more
specifcity, this article will look at the triangular relationship between the flmmaker's
prior theatre experience, French cinephilia's influence, and cinema in the gallery,
using It's a Dream (2007) and Visage as two case studies. I argue Tsai's flm and
video installation need to be situated in the intersection between the moving images
and the alternative viewing experiences, and between the global and regional flm
cultures taking place at the theatre-within-a-gallery site. While Tsai's slow flm
aesthetics can be traced in relation to his prior theatre practice, his installation and
flm in the gallery are grounded in the belief that cinema needs to be resurrected in
the museum. The interrelations between Tsai's video installation and feature flms
show that they originate from, and are still part of, love for cinema. Tsai's move to
the museum space exemplifes the possibility for the future of cinema: it may lose its
exclusivity of the collective experience in the movie theatre, yet still privileges the
architectural situation of cinema.
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