UCCA proudly presents a lecture from Singapore-based art critic Lee Weng Choy on the works and practice of Tehching Hsieh.

Taiwan-born Tehching Hsieh is famous for his legendary One Year Performances of the late seventies and eighties and for his subsequent Thirteen-year Plan, in which he exhibited no art. In March 2012, Hsieh returned to Taiwan for a lecture tour launching the Chinese translation of his monograph, Out of Now: the Lifeworks of Tehching Hsieh. Since leaving Taiwan in 1974 to live and practice art in New York, Tehching has returned to his homeland many times, but this visit marked the first time he spoke in public about his life and work. Joining Tehching on his tour was Adrian Heathfield, co-author of the book, JowJiun Gong, the book’s translator, and Lee Weng Choy. In this presentation, Lee will reflect on his experience accompanying Hsieh, Heathfield and Gong in Taiwan.

Storytelling by Hseih’s supporters and admirers has played an instrumental role in the dissemination of the artist’s work. Since the completion of his Thirteen-year Plan, Hsieh has also allowed access to his art through his own storytelling. This presentation will address the relationship between Hsieh’s documents and his narrative, his reception in Taiwan during the lecture tour and the question of an evolving critical consensus surrounding the artist’s oeuvre, specifically looking at the Time Clock Piece featured in the UCCA exhibition.

Lee Weng Choy is a Singapore-based art critic. From 2000 to 2009, he was the artistic co-director of The Substation arts center in Singapore. Lee currently serves on the academic advisory board of the Asia Art Archive in Hong Kong and is president of the Singapore Section of the International Association of Art Critics. He has lectured on art theory and cultural policy, and his essays have been appeared in many publications, including After the Event: New Perspectives on Art History; Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture; Forum On Contemporary Art & Society; Over Here: International Perspectives on Art and Culture; Positions: East Asia Cultures Critique; Theory in Contemporary Art since 1985; Modern and Contemporary Southeast Asia Art and Broadsheet.