The Courage to Create: Insights from Awc Wang on Art, Space, and Perception
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Awc (Chuwen) Wang (b. 1995, China) is an artist who works in the field of theatrical performance and performance art. Her works have been exploring interactivity. During her stay in Shanghai, she explored and practiced the abstract relationship between human beings and space, and the objective characteristics of the near-death experience.
Awc Wang is using non sequitur device within performance, moving image, writing to symbolise the conflict between human tendency and human inability. She responds to the absurd condition of human existence as shifting the paradigm and changing the rules. Affected by environmental theatre and interactive theatre, she explored interactive performance by recombining interactive layers and digesting physical spaces, to weaken the alienating or the exclusive environments, in order to expand the inclusive and participatory of performance art. Her immersive way of creating and ironic tastes delicately deconstructs the relationship and interaction between humans and society. She currently lives and works in Shanghai.
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Q1. Can you share a bit about your background and any pivotal experiences that led you to pursue a career in art?​
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I was born in a small city in an industrial area where life was very simple and stable, but paradoxically, there was a sense of monotony and restlessness. Hills and lakes surrounded the city, creating a huge contrast with the industrial setting, therefore creating a sense of surrealism. At the same time, this simplicity also sharpened my focus, which allowed me to see the world in many layers.
During my university years, I was exposed to a lot of new-wave theatre, which was impactful and full of vitality—this period allowed me to reflect on the messy relations between humans and space, time, and different elements in the stage of space, body and the control of consciousness, which brought me too many possibilities of experimentation and rethinking. At this stage, I carried out a lot of experiments with media and materials, as well as started to focus on systematically profound issues, and at the same time developed a sharper sense of self-consciousness. Artists such as Félix González-Torres, Xie Deqing, Abramović, Cai Guoqiang, Olafur Eliasson and Antony Gormley, all had a lasting impact on me. I think artists are equipped with an instinct, whether inherited or educated, to know when it’s the best expression for them, so I think I just chose and captured what I felt.
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Q2. Your work integrates performance art with profound themes of human interaction and space. Could you describe a specific moment or experience that catalyzed your interest in melding these specific elements into your artistic practice?
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I was influenced by Peter Brook and developed my interest in how a traditionally framed stage, actors, movement and time can be integrated into an empty stage, which inspired me to think further about the interrelationship between people and space. My first major piece, a spatial installation called Room, provides a new perspective on the existence of human beings in this material world and their interaction with material space.
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Q3. In your recent project "Chit Chat," you engage with themes of pain and its perception, utilizing audience interaction and spatial navigation to symbolise the physical manifestation and personal orientation towards pain. Similarly, in "Maker," you use your body's movement and exertion as a metaphor for overcoming fear and pushing past personal limits. How do these works complement each other in your broader artistic exploration of human conditions and emotional states?
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Fear, pain, and emotions are immaterial and indescribable personal experiences, which I have always found difficult to define and describe, but at the same time have the possibility of communication, or rather, they are really difficult to describe, so it would be good if they could be communicated. From an objective point of view, these "feelings" have always been a part of my daily existence, and I have spent the length of my life living in or against the company of them. Bipolar disorder, epidemics, chronic pain, music, and the energy of art, all of these experiences reinforce my beliefs in the importance of "communication", "resonance", and the importance of individuals truly seeing one another. I prefer to believe that human conditions are co-existing and co-occurring. My body, the energy I bring to the site as an artist, and the direct communication with the space can be received and reciprocated by the audience.
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Chit Chat, live performance at a Zero-sum Game, a solo exhibition of Awc Wang, 2023
Q4. "Portrait In The Corner" uniquely incorporates mixed media through bacteria cultured from your own body. How does this work bridge your practice in performance art, particularly in terms of using your physical presence as a central element?
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During the period when this work was created, I was working on a series of random records of self-portraits to explore my relationship with my body. I also went through a lot of separations during that time, including separating with the cat that had been living in my house for many years. Therefore I started to collect these ‘bodily traces’, hoping to record, collect and continue those records of experiences and existences. The work of artist Anicka Yi also had an impact on me. I focused on the hidden narratives of microorganisms and bacteria. So I started various types of experiments and ended up with a portrait that grows and creates their own narratives with the power of microorganisms.
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Portrait In The Corner, agar, germs from body, cotton swabs, 60 x 60 cm/changeable, 2022
Q5. Being active in both London and Shanghai, how have these diverse cultural landscapes influenced your artistic themes and practices?
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The parallel and often contradictory spaces bring room for conversations, arguments and new perspectives. The important thing is to be ‘different’. Regional and cultural differences alert humans to their awareness towards themself and their surroundings, and weave into their identities. This is one of the aspects that keeps the artist in an active and reflective state at all times.
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Q6. "Better, Worse" seems to encapsulate a duality of experience, suggesting fluctuations between improvement and deterioration. Could you share what inspired this theme, and how do you use various media to convey the complex emotions and narratives within this project?
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Better, worse. I would consider this an intricately consistent state that runs through my life. The fluctuation seems to be eternal. The need to use safflower oil, or a poultice for arthritic pain; constantly rubbing ankles to generate heat to decrease the discomfort in the process of rubbing and friction. Rubbing as a repetitive effort diverts attention, and divides my focus and experience of the body into means and ends. Yet the verdicts are always changing, is it better this second, or is it going to be worse in the next minute? The decision is consistently being made yet consistently changing.
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Better, Worse, multiple-channel video installation, changeable size, 2023
Recording of Better, Worse at the exhibition: https://youtu.be/SoNF-7CF2Eg
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Untitled - Better, Worse 1-10, screenshots from the multiple-channel video, 2023
Q7. Across different projects and mediums mentioned above, you dive into human conditions, emotions, and physicality while maintaining a coherent perspective. Can you discuss how using these diverse forms enriches your exploration of these themes?
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Materials are never the driving or defining force of creation. While exploring different mediums, I am always looking for their connections with my perspectives. What characteristics make them the best and the most suited medium for my work and the message I want to convey this time? I believe the creative process is a process of adding and deducting. I would always make as many attempts as possible but only keep the most vital and irreplaceable parts at the end.
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Q8. How do you respond to critical feedback from the audience, and has it influenced the direction of your artistic practice in any significant ways?
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Critical feedback is very important. I would consider it part of the creation itself. It is always fascinating and curious to engage with the feedback and learn the different perspectives individuals extract from my work. Some built on my current messages and others can be wildly different yet equally insightful and refreshing. They are a constant reminder that we are the beings of our own experiences and how difficult and important it is to try and see one another.
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Q9. Could you discuss any significant collaborations with institutions or cultural centers that have shaped your artistic practice?
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The Royal College of Art, Cement Park, and Yell Space.
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When I was at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, my graduation project, Room, was unanimously slammed by the entire academy as a piece of trash and was considered “out of order”. After I started studying at RCA, all the students and tutors came together to share our past creations and then discuss them. Room got a very useful exchange. During my study at the institution, I saw vitality and the courage to be inclusive. The biggest takeaway from my time here is that creating art is a journey, and there is no need to rush to reach the end because the end is precisely what is not needed, I think this has been and will always be the guidance and inspiration for my journey in art making.
The Cement Park has helped me to develop the courage to make rubbish. Cement Park is a community and platform that sees everyone, it acts as a huge container, stays active and pays a lot of attention to the improvisation scene, a place where creatives feel safe and comfortable to freely express and experiment without the need to create “artworks”. The beauty and vitality of art often come from the destruction of the canon. At the same time, I think it's very meaningful to participate in or observe the improvisation scene frequently.
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Yell Space, as one of the very few surviving non-profit art spaces in China, focuses on the community of young artists. They promote the development of contemporary art in and around the area through a very benign screening mechanism. The way the space operates and the concepts they adhere to are very rare in China's contemporary art industry. Yell Space does not restrict or select young artists based on capitalist standards. They are happy to support and engage by providing enough space for artists to use freely. Through their support and guidance, I experienced the certainty and determination of art making, of feeling that my expressions were valued and my creation supported despite my lack of capital values and commercial exchange. Yell Space has this slogan: There was no space in this world. Yet you need it, and there was space. I haven't seen a more inclusive and supportive place in China.
Installation View of Next Week, Next Month, Next Year at A Zero-sum Game, a solo exhibition of Awc Wang at Yell Space, performance, single-channel video, installation, 2023
Q10. How do you see your work evolving in the future? Are there new themes or media you are interested in exploring?
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I am brainstorming a new series of works focusing on the living conditions of stray animals and homeless individuals, the marginalised beings that share the city yet their existence seems to have been forced to be shrunk into a condensed jar. I am still very passionate about the relationship between chronic pain and the body, and I think there is still a lot of room for discussion.
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Q11. Finally, what advice would you give to artists just beginning to explore performance art?
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Gotta do something to do something. Keep the creative life active and consistent. No need to keep up with the trend or stay relevant if it is irrelevant to your insights and expressions, focus on what you care about. Dare to create rubbish.
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