Muchen

Stranger than Fiction at FACT presented a number works that reference sensory deprivation, the unearthing of memory, objects and history, where the audience is invited to build their own connections in confronting the void. All the artworks contributed to the wider themes of abstraction and storytelling.

For Stranger than Fiction, Muchen’s, Legend No 1 & No 2 (2008), both depicted artefacts in the Revolutionary Historical Museum in Yan’an. Both images bared witness to the mythology surrounding the charismatic leader. No 1 showed a replica of a meeting room where Mao gave important speeches; now with altar-like status, this replica resonated with the presence of someone who was never there. No 2 was an image of a stuffed horse purporting to be Mao’s legendary faithful mare who saved his life many times in war. These ‘made up’ historical artefacts from Mao’s life were fragments in the service of creating and sustaining a myth to meet people’s different needs.

Legend No 1 & No 2, 2008
Photographs
Exhibited at FACT

SUPPORTED BY

Creative nz
Arts Council of New Zealand
Toi Aotearoa