300 pose in mass mock-up
Sep 13 2008 by David Whetstone, The Journal
THE scene is set for the latest mass-participation art project on Tyneside. Some time this afternoon, with the aid of 300 volunteers, Chinese photographer Wang Qingsong will activate his camera shutter to immortalise his own version of a scene from Casualty.
The earliest of the volunteers, me included, will gather this morning at 9.30am with night clothes at the ready.
Our reward for offering to take part in the project Changing Cities will be to surrender to a team of make-up artists and be transformed into characters such as Very Sick Patient. At least, I’m hoping the make-up will be deemed necessary. If not, I’m off for a check-up first thing on Monday. Other volunteers have been assigned the roles of hospital visitors, nurses and doctors.
When Wang Qingsong is satisfied with the arrangement of patients, medical staff, drips, crutches and other props in the auditorium of the big Stage 1 at Northern Stage, he will release the shutter.
Well known in art circles in China, this is the photographer’s first installation in the UK, although a couple of years ago he did design the windows of Selfridges in London.
Yesterday, with the help of interpreter Jiayun Li, a 23-year-old student at Newcastle University, he explained that he had chosen a hospital scene because he reckoned there were similarities between a hospital and a theatre. On the website of the NewcastleGateshead Initiative, which is promoting Changing Cities as part of its year-long East 08 celebration of contemporary Asian culture, the work is described as exploring “the notion of pain and healing and of theatre as a cathartic experience”.
The man himself said, again via Jiayun Li, who will have a big job on her hands today: “I am very excited because it’s the first time I’ve taken photographs of westerners. It’s different from what I’ve done in the past.”
The last mass photography project on Tyneside was in 2005 when American Spencer Tunick persuaded 1,700 people to strip naked on the Quayside.
Wang Qingsong, and his wife and assistant Zhang Fang, both smiled in recognition at Tunick’s name.
The Chinese photographer has also worked with large crowds – 1,300 people on one occasion – and has used nude people in some of his extraordinary tableaux.
This time, though, everyone will be fully clothed and, thankfully, indoors, although it promises to get a little hot under the stage lights that will illuminate the scene. After the hours of preparation, how many photographs did Wang Qingsong plan to take? “One, maybe two,” he said.
His chosen photograph will be shown next month on screens at Northern Stage.
At some point in the future, it will also emerge in China, inspiring who knows what thoughts in the minds of viewers? The sickness of the West? The excellence of our health service?
Read Monday’s Journal for a full report of the photoshoot.
