Amendment II

(Amendment II, 3:29 Video Installation, HD1920x1080,2013)

(Director/Cinematographer/Editor/Sound Mixer  Meng Tang)

 

 

Babel 

(Babel,14:50 Video Installation, HD1920x1080, 2010)  

(Director/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor/Sound Mixer    Meng Tang) 

The video installation work Babel is a reflection of personal cross-cultural experience and an 

examination of the feasibility and possibility of communication - especially cross-cultural 

communication.  Can we truly know another's experience, especially with varying languages, 

gender, race and class differences?  The final answer is probably no. However, does that 

means we are all different and we cannot effectively communicate?  Again the answer is no. 

As long as we are aware of the differences, we are capable of self-reflection and self- 

examination. The title of the work Babel is borrowed from the book of Genesis from the 

Bible. With the specificity of direct representation, I use these signifiers to allude to ideas 

about the human condition, and the environment we inhabit. .  I encourage expansive 

interpretation of my work as it invites participation in the act of art as a vehicle for thought.

 

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The Fire – The Five Elements No. 4  

(The Fire, 03:20 Video Installation, HD1920x1080,2011)  

(Director/Cinematographer/Editor/Sound Mixer   Meng Tang) 

In this work, Chinese calligraphy of Confucius’s Analects (of Confucianism), Tao Te  

Ching (of Taoism), and Ming Yan Sutra (of Buddhism) are burned, layer-by-layer,  

into ashes, and then into another circle. This burning of traditional canons has multiple 

implications: First, Chinese people burn written texts as a way of communicating with the 

spirits, who can read the texts burned into ashes  

Second, the three philosophical systems whose canons are burned form the core of  

Chinese traditional values. These philosophical systems have witnessed thousands  

of years of human suffering; but they are resilient, and have survived from the  

first Emperor to the Red Guards.  

Third, fire is associated with trauma and chaos that the Chinese people have  

experienced during countless wars and disasters.  The Fire is a video projection, one in a 

five-part series on The Five Elements (“Wu Xing”) in Chinese philosophy: Metal; Wood; 

Water; Fire and Earth.  

 

 

 

A Brief History of Time  

(A Brief History of Time, 2008 5:31 Performance Video)   

(Performer/Videographyer: Meng Tang)   

A Brief History of Time is a performance work, in which I am the performer and 

videographer.  It was inspired by Stephen Hawking’s book A Brief History of Time.  

In this piece, I ask these questions: does time really exist? Or it is an illusion by 

movement? How time is measured?

 

 

The Cost of War  

(The Cost of War, 4:42, 2016, Video Installation)

(Cinematographer/Editor/Sound Mixer:  Meng Tang)