Gu Zheng

I believe that Wang Tong’s historical reenactment manifests his own deeply-held principles and rationale. This is not influenced by the importance that the current market attaches to artistic ‘concepts’ or additional factors such as the desire to capitalize on Mao’s contemporary iconicity. Collecting images of Mao over a long period, the historical figure of Mao Zedong has gradually infiltrated the artist’s consciousness, amassing within him, covertly molding his inner-self. It is not impossible that this historical figure has become an indivisible part of Wang Tong’s own personal experience and memory. Perhaps, through the impersonation of Mao Zedong in performance he has found some means to loosen the grip this specter holds over his own soul. Through an examination of Wang Tong’s previous series, Mao On The Wall and this series, Reenactment, we can see his recurring preoccupations; the conditions under which history exists in our memories, the relationship between our memories and images, the formation of historical memory, the significance of recollecting historical events and other serious issues. Of course, from the perspective of the artist, whether history can be reenacted and imitated is also questionable. Wang Tong’s consideration of the historicity of today, by this specific method, also raises awareness of the importance of human history.

Reenactment
I was born in 1967, the second year of the Cultural Revolution, and spent my childhood years queuing for rations of grain and pork. There was a great level of difficulty in obtaining these commodities throughout that period. My greatest dream was to satisfy my craving for meat! However, looking back, actually the vast majority of my childhood recollections are of a time spent in a state of happiness and luck. Afterwards, changes occurred. By the time that I started work, state-owned enterprises had developed a contract system for work hours rather than allocating roles to workers, and by the time I came to be married, state-owned homes were no longer allocated by the state but bought and sold. The reconstruction of national territory is also a dream. Formerly, high-rise buildings were only to be found in Western capitalist nations, yet they are now more and more common. Similarly, in the past, it was only in books describing the future that one might find images of high-speed motorways, but now they are stretching further and further. In the rapidly altering world of today, even remembering the events of yesterday requires imagination. One cannot yet say whether the preoccupations of the present-day are good or bad, yet we are unwilling to return to the past. Considering this, what would happen if a great figure of the past emerged from a classical portrait into the world of today?