Wang Yuyang
Tonight I shall meditate upon that which I am
Edition of 800
354 pages
Hard cover 28×21 cm
ISBN 9788894154016
€ 60
Tonight I Shall Meditate Upon That Which I Am is the first bilingual monograph on the work of Chinese artist Wang Yuyang. The book delves into Wang’s practice, focusing particularly on his eponymous solo show at the Long Museum in Shanghai in 2015. It features contributions by an international roster of writers, including Beijing-based artist and curator Bao Dong, Director of CAC Shanghai Zhang Ga, CUNY Distinguished Professor David Joselit, Flash Art co-publisher Helena Kontova, Stanford University Professor Pamela M. Lee, and writer and curator Robin Peckham.
The book’s title is taken from Wang’s eponymous work executed in 2008 — a colossal sculptural wreckage which, according the artist, was evidence of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module disintegrating upon landing or during the voyage home. This work alludes to a future that sees its twilight in the smoldering ruins, a future conceived in the overlapping of the “that” in “I” and the “I” in “that.” “That which I am” conjugates the subject and the object, conflating the inanimate and the soulful and suggesting an emerging relationship between things and humans. This foreshadows much of the artist’s recent work, providing a conceptual clue to understanding his magnificently uncanny creations.