Q & A with Song Tao
This question and answer session between curator Hannah Conroy and artist Song Tao, regarding his work My Beautiful Zhang Jiang took place just before the Castle & Elephant screening of the film, in the Elephant.
HC Can you give a synopsis of My beautiful Zhong Jiang? What are the main
ideas behind this work?
ST Sorry, I don’t want to answer these questions.
HC Do you feel that My beautiful Zhong Jiang transcends cultural boundaries?
ST I never think about such question.
HC Do you consider how an audience (not living in Shanghai) might
perceive the work?
ST I don’t care about this either.
HC What would you like your audience to take from the work?
ST At the end of this video, the smile of the girl is the take what I
extremely want to take. All the takes I took before just for lead to
the SMILE. I hope I can deliver this moment of smile and such feeling
of the girl to the audiences.
HC Does this matter to you as an artist?
ST It doesn’t matter for me.
HC I read from an interview that ‘Birdhead’ did with Paul Gladstone that
you describe the artist as Hunter and audience as the Rabbit. Is this
the case with your work as an individual?
ST That was an interview in 2007. Now, I have no such big interest on it.
This video was completed in 2006 which can as a case for my answer in
2007’s interview.
HC I have read that you don’t have any interest in Politics but do you
see your work in the global sphere or is My beautiful Zhong Jiang a
personal commentary on you life in Shanghai?
ST I cannot help but I answer it.
HC Your work echoes ideas of the body and its relationship to the
city, can you describe this further?
ST First of all, I appreciated your kean understanding. Yes, if I grew
up in the tropical rainforest on the border between China and Burma,
one thing is for sure, which is, my work could echo ideas of the body
and its relationship to the rainforest either.
HC You often work with fellow artist Ji Weiyu as Birdhead. How do you
Differentiate the work that you do with Birdhead and the work that you
do as a solo artist.
ST It’s hard to differentiate. I can accept any work which makes me
happy, whatever solo or with a group people. Contrastly to say, work
with others is more challenging. Because everybody has its own soul.
In the process of the cooperation, confrontation and compromise may
happen at any time. Convince myself is as same important as convince
the opposite side. Yes, “work together” drives me very happy.
HC Can you give a few sentences on what inspires you? For example:
books, films, art theory, philosophers, other artists.
ST Recently, for me, I feel so happy from the calligraphy of Yan
Zhenqing.(One of the greatest calligraphers in Chinese history, Tang
Dynasty) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yan_Zhengqing
