PERFORMANCE ART
Ungrounded Tango
Ungrounded Tango
“Queer Series No.10: Ungrounded Tango”
Artist：
Monique Yim, Wiency Wong
Media :
Performance Art
Date of Live Performance：
2017.05.27
Place of Live Performance：
Herrfurthpl Christian Church, Berlin, Germany
Exhibition of Live Performance：
“4 th International Performance Art Week-end”, Berlin, Germany
Art Critique of the Performance Artwork：
2017.10.27
「何須「畫公仔畫出腸」？盤點香港視覺藝術同志作品」，文：阿三／陳世樂，《新活水》，台灣，中文，藝評，2017 年 10 月 27 日。
(文章連結：https://www.fountain.org.tw/r/post/hk-lgbt-art)
「何須「畫公仔畫出腸」？盤點香港視覺藝術同志作品」，文：阿三／陳世樂，《新活水》，台灣，中文，藝評，2017 年 10 月 27 日。
(文章連結：https://www.fountain.org.tw/r/post/hk-lgbt-art)
Media Interview or Feature Article：
2017.06.06
「愛情短跑」，文：梁苡珊，圖：黄寶瑩，《香港 01》，香港，中文，2017 年 6 月 6 日。(文章連結：https://www.hk01.com/女生/95950/)
Work Material：
Monique Yim dressed in black shirt and bow tie, Wiency Wong dressed in white chiffon one-piece dress
Work Description:
We are an engaged same-sex couple from Hong Kong. We hope same-sex marriage could be legalized in our homeland and all over the world as soon as possible, also the discrimination and violence towards sexual and gender minorities could be eliminated in the society.
Same-sex marriage was not legalized and there was only "Registered Life Partnerships" (Eingetragene Lebenspartnerschaft) available in Germany at the time we presented the work.
On Saturday, after the locals’ Weekend Worship, we started our performance from the main gate of a Christian church called Herrfurthpl, carrying each other single-handedly until both of us became too tired to continue the movement. Taking turns to support two people's weight on one person by holding each other in arms or on the back, we also stepped on each other’s feet and let the other do the walking. Walking on one's own feet was forbidden. When one of us got tired, then we stopped and swapped. We kept on walking until we can’t do anymore.
In half an hour, we walked around the church in the first loop and then the wet market surrounding the church in the second loop, 640 meters in total.
Around 1 month after our presentation of artwork (30 th June 2017), same-sex marriage was eventually signed into law and became a legal form of marriage in Germany.
Artist Statement:
In our performance, we gestured like holding the bride in wedding, or like a couple dancing tango. The scenes we created looked warm, romantic, relaxing and happy, to the eyes of the viewers. Passers-by were looking at us with happy faces. In their eyes, we were a pair of blessed and sweet (heterosexual) couple. They were happy for us.
In fact, we didn’t feel relaxed at all. The fact was that, at the same time, we were using our body, in the way of one person supporting two people’s walking. This and the corresponding physical condition (tiredness) of us, presented the metaphor of what same-sex couples were facing around the world, included but not limited to all kinds of discrimination, inequality, and laws that were not subjected to equal (marriage) rights, and the hardships and bitterness they/we felt. Our performance also metaphorized that, in the world, the enactment process of social equality for the LGBTQ community and the legislative process of same-sex marriage were slow. This led to the weakness, hopelessness and the sense of loneliness (the pain of not being allowed to build a family while having a partner, and the helplessness of us being two separated strangers under the law). They/we could only survive and support each other by one self. In certain places and at certain moments, the daily lives of LGBTQ seem satisfied and happy though, at the same time it implies that, the majority of society easily forget about the existing injustice and violence towards LGBTQ that occur daily around the globe.
In the work, we composed (and represented) the great contrast between the viewpoint of viewers (outsider and the majority of society) and the feeling of the artists (insider, LGBTQ and same-sex couple), and the ironic contrast between the superficial and deeper truth.
CREDITS
Photographer: Felix Roadkill
