Opening Reception at Queens Museum of Art Today Sunday 3-6pm

hi everyone,

if you are in new york, please come to my opening
today, Sunday Nov. 3, 3-6pm.
i'm guest curating a digital video from an
artist from Japan.
there'll be music, beer, wine + general merriment…

hope to see you! thanks. cristine

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SPECIAL U.S. PREMIER, NOVEMBER 3-10

Masayuki Kawai: About a Theological Situation
in the Society of the Spectacle

QMA to Participate in New York's Inaugural Asian
Contemporary Art Week

The Queens Museum of Art is pleased to announce a
special U.S. premier of Japanese artist Masayuki
Kawai's video work About a Theological Situation
in the Society of the Spectacle (2001). Selected
by guest curator Cristine Wang, Kawai's work will
be on view in the museum's small theater from
November 3-10, 2002, as part of New York City's
landmark Asian Contemporary Art Week.

An opening reception will be held Sunday,
November 3, 2002, from 3-6pm.

Asian Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) is an
initiative of the Asian Contemporary Art
Consortium, and brings together an unprecedented
alliance of curators, artists, educators and
scholars in a city-wide program of exhibitions,
performances, lectures, and events. For
information on ACAW, visit
.

About a Theological Situation in the Society of
the Spectacle (6 min, 30 sec, DVD) takes French
Situationist theorist Guy Debord's seminal text,
Society of the Spectacle (1967), as its main
point of departure in a critique of the myths of
"life" and "personality" in contemporary Japanese
pop culture. Debord's work remains one of the
great theoretical texts on modern-day capitalism,
visual culture, and the influence of the media
over the evolution of social relationships. Kawai
states: "I use Augustinus' theology of "the
Trinity" as an analogy to analyze and critique
the situation, and quote images from the
spectacle to adopt a form of exaggerated
imitation of mass media techniques such as quick
cutting & text slogans."

Masayuki Kawai was born 1972, in Osaka, Japan,
and currently lives in Tokyo. He received a B.A.
in Aesthetics from the University of Tokyo, and
founded the Videoart Center Tokyo in 1999. A
publisher and critic of contemporary video art,
Kawai's video works have been shown
internationally including: Clermont-Ferrand Short
Film Festival, France (2002); Oberhausen
International Short Film Festival, Germany
(2002); European Media Art Festival, Osnabruck,
Germany (2002/2001); Sydney Film Festival,
Sydney, Australia (2001); Microwave International
Media Art Festival, Hong Kong (2001); Leeds
International Film Festival, England (2001); and
the Rotterdam International Film Festival, The
Netherlands (2001).

Cristine Wang is a New York-based independent
curator and critic. She recently curated Defining
Lines, Manifesta 4, Frankfurt, Germany (2002);
Re:Duchamp Exhibition, 49th Venice Biennial,
Italy (2001); Dystopia + Identity, Tribes
Gallery, New York (2001). Wang curated the online
exhibition Defining Lines: (2002), included in the Whitney Museum's
"Artport" website. She was on the International
Jury for Oberhausen Film Festival, Germany
(2002), and is on the Committee for the Paris
Biennial (2002).

A closing reception will be held Sunday, November
10, 6-8 pm, at Clay, 202 Mott Street, between
Spring & Kenmare Streets.

Further info: Cristine Wang Tel: (917) 318-0081
Email: [email protected].


Support for this project is gratefully
acknowledged from Name.Space, Progressive IMG,
and The Wang Family Trust. Additional support
from Frederieke Taylor. The closing party
sponsored by Clay.

Carolyn Bane
Director of Public Relations / Queens Museum of
Art / NYC Building / Flushing Meadows Corona Park
/ Queens, NY 11368-3398
t 718.592.9700 ext. 147 / f 718.592.5778 /
[email protected]

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