After its world premiere at the 14th Istanbul Biennial (2015), and acclaimed screenings at Art Basel (2016), K11 Art Foundation in Hong Kong (2016) and various art institutions in China, this film celebrates its Southeast Asian premiere in Singapore.
Screening details
Date: Sun 11 Dec
Time: 11:00am – 9:00pm
The screening starts at 12:00 noon sharp.
Join us for brunch and conversation from 11:00am.
Light refreshments will be offered during intermission from 4:20pm to 5:00pm.
The Arts House Screening Room
1 Old Parliament Lane
Singapore 179429
M18: Some nudity and coarse language
Free admission Screening but tickets have to be booked through Eventbrite in this link.
Here is a link to the screening event.
Conceived as an experiment that challenges the viewer’s attention in the tradition of durational film experiences, In course of the miraculous is a film about travel, adventure and wonder. The work is inspired by three stories of real-life mysterious disappearances. These include British mountaineer George Mallory, who went missing while ascending Mount Everest in 1924; artist Bas Jan Ader, who vanished during his 1975 journey across the Atlantic as part of a performance titled In search of the miraculous; and the 22 fishermen killed in the 2011 mutiny aboard Chinese trawler Lu Rong Yu no. 2682. Using a narrative inspired by fables and mythic literature, Cheng visualises inexplicable or unimaginable parts of history.
You are free to exit and enter the cinema during the screening.
The film is presented as part of an exhibition called 'The World Precedes the Eye'.
'The World Precedes the Eye' presents the work of nine emerging and mid-career artists who are pursuing new thinking about matter in time, space and history. The artists form a wide arc through the Asia–Pacific region: from the western banks of the Bosphorus, to China, Hong Kong and Japan in East Asia, to Singapore and Thailand in Southeast Asia, and further south to Australia. Spanning sculpture, installation, painting, moving image and sound, the exhibition recognises that while matter, as a resource, is finite, there are material worlds beyond the boundaries of our current understanding.
The title of the exhibition reflects the swing towards new realism—the concept that matter matters—in contemporary art. Material experience rather than representation as a route to knowledge is central. The exhibition explores the idea that we share this world and are not its primary subject—the world is not constructed in our own image.
About the filmmaker
Cheng Ran was
born in Chifeng, Inner Mongolia in 1981 and lives in Hangzhou. He has been producing film and video works that employ both Chinese and Western literature, poetry, cinema, pop and visual culture since graduating from China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, in 2004, the same year he began working with Yang Fudong. His art presents new narratives that combine myths and historical events. It is produced in the context of a rapidly transforming China, where the pace of social, cultural and environmental change is both largely driven and acutely felt by young people. His recent solo exhibitions include Diary of a madman, New Museum, New York (2016); In course of the miraculous, K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong (2016); and Orange blue—in the process of a film, Qiao Space, Shanghai (2016), and YUAN Space, Beijing (2015). Cheng has participated in many major international exhibitions including Inside China—l’intérieur du géant, K11 Art Museum, Shanghai, K11 Art Foundation Pop-Up Space, Hong Kong, and Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014–15); the 14th Istanbul Biennial, where In course of the miraculous was first screened (2015); When I give, I give myself, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (2015); 8th Shenzhen Sculpture Biennale (2014); West Bund 2013: A Biennial of Architecture and Contemporary Art, Shanghai (2013); 5th Auckland Triennial (2013); and 3rd Guangzhou Triennial (2008). Cheng has also participated in numerous film festivals. He has undertaken artist residencies at the New Museum, New York, and Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam. Cheng Ran is represented by Galerie Urs Meile, Beijing and Lucerne; and Leo Xu Projects, Shanghai.
Here is the film trailer: