Taipei Cultural Center in New York

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the support of Ministry of Culture, R.O.C. (Taiwan) and Taipei Cultural Center in New York, will present Taiwanese artist Lee Mingwei’s OUR LABYRINTH, a collaborative work with legendary American choreographer Bill T. Jones. It will be performed by New York local artists for three consecutive weeks, starting September 16th. OUR LABYRINTH was premiered at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in 2015, and was later presented at Centre Pompidou in 2017. The performance will be live-streamed for a global audience.

After the presentation of SONIC BLOSSOM at The Met in 2015, which was listed one of “the Best in Arts” by the New York Times, Lee Mingwei returns to the New York stage by bringing his reinterpretation of OUR LABYRINTH. OUR LABYRINTH was inspired by Lee Mingwei’s visit to Myanmar and his childhood memories of growing up in Luzhou and Puli. Lee states, “Taipei Fine Art Museum provided a poignant opportunity to create/premier OUR LABYRINTH in 2015. I hope whoever encounters OUR LABYRINTH, for it being in Jakarta, Paris, Berlin, New York or London, the project brings them the experience of being in peace with oneself.”

In addition, Lee particularly mentions that OUR LABYRINTH is an embrace of creation and destruction, and Bill T. Jones’ involvement has enriched and empowered this project. Lee further states that this project “is an offering to those who ever lived on this sacred land known as Mannahatta, as well as to every artist who collectively and unknowingly created The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Spirit House of Mannahatta.”

The Met’s OUR LABYRINTH will be performed and live-streamed on three Wednesdays when the Museum is regularly closed to the public, Watch the performance on YouTube (No login required.)
◆ Performance 1
    Wednesday, September 16, 12–4:30 pm
    The Great Hall
◆ Performance 2 
    Wednesday, September 23, 12–4:30 pm
    The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Asian Art
◆ Performance 3
    Wednesday, September 30, 12–4:30 pm
    The Charles Engelhard Court, The American Wing

For more details about OUR LABYRINTH at The Met.
 
Photo © Taipei Fine Arts Museum

Born in Taiwan and currently living in Paris and New York City, Lee Mingwei creates participatory installations, where strangers can explore issues of trust, intimacy, and self-awareness, and one-on-one events, in which visitors contemplate these issues with the artist through eating, sleeping, walking and conversation. Lee's projects are often open-ended scenarios for everyday interaction, and take on different forms with the involvement of participants and change during the course of an exhibition.

Lee received an MFA from Yale University in 1997, and has held solo exhibitions internationally including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, Mori Art Museum, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art and has been featured in biennals in Venice, Lyon, Liverpool, Taipei, Sydney, Whitney, and Asia Pacific Triennials.

Lee's mid-career survey exhibition "Lee Mingwei and His Relations: The Art of Participation" was presented at Mori Art Museum (2014), Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2015), and Auckland Art Gallery (2016), and he has participated at the 57th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, "Viva Arte Viva," curated by Christine Macel.

Photo©Matteo Carcelli

Resides in Queens, New York, I-Ling Liu 劉奕伶, a dance artist originally from Taiwan and received a BFA from Taipei National University of the Arts, was a former member of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company for 11 years. I-Ling Liu has been creating and displaying her works as well as collaborating with visual artists, photographers, composers, directors and actors in theater and film. In 2019 she collaborated with Taiwanese filmmaker Su Hui-Yu and performed “The White Waters” at Performa 19 Biennial. In 2018 she joined Luca Veggetti’s work as a soloist and performed in Bologna, Italy. Her works, focused on reminiscence, trauma, freedom of speech and definition of “technique”, which have been presented throughout New York City such as Westfest Dance Festival, Queensboro Dance Festival, SoloDuo Festival by White Wave, Food for Thoughts by Danspace Project and Split Bills by Triskelion Arts. In 2017 her solo work “GENG” was nominated by Taishin Arts Award in Taiwan. She was one of the recipients of Dance in Queens Awardees: Space Exploration from Topaz Arts in 2012 and Explore the Metropolis Choreographer + Composer Residency in 2019.

Photo © Jacob Jonas