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SU-MEI TSE

29.05.07 - 14.08.07 & 06.09.07 - 22.09.07

Left: “SUMY”, 2001, in collaboration with Jean-Lou Majerus, sculpture, headband, velvet, shells, resin, glassbox, base, 32 X 32 X 100 cm, #6 (7 versions), Right: “Dong Xi Nan Bei (E, W, S, N)”, 2005, neon installation, 60 X 60 cm/each neon sign, installation dimensions variable, Ed. of 5 + 1 a.p. 
























 

The installation Dong Xi Nan Bei (E, W, S, N) marks the four directions of the compass. But the Chinese directions are laid out horizontally and do not follow the same order as in the West, with East coming first. The Luxemburgish artist (born by Chinese and British parents) is hinting at her interest in the question of the relativity of our individual perceptions. It all depends on our viewpoint, which is linked to our culture, sensibilities, and personal references.

In the sculpture SUMY the type-face on the headset (shells) is an ironic reference to the famous Sony brandname and at the same time to the artist's forename. Su-Mei Tse transposes childhood memories onto almost surrealist objects and revives sounds that everyone remembers. The notion of memory is reinforced by the inaccessibility of the item behind the display case.

The work Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, a series of four photographs, in which fingers wrapped in bandages and supported by splints play the piano. With this work, Su-Mei Tse expresses the pain required in order for someone to reach perfection of sound in the great classical repertoire, as well as in every important work of art.

In the video-work Mistelpartition, the trees-hosts of mistletoe are regarded as a musical score, in which the height of the grey and white circles is determined as much by the position of the mistletoe on the trees, as by the height of the musical note on the scale of sounds. One logic exists in this musical score: the overall respect to the height of the sounds in their transcription as an image.

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