Jennifer Wen Ma (Beijing and New York)

The Alchemy of Making Paradise Interrupted


Referencing the collaborative process of her critically acclaimed, recent installation-opera Paradise Interrupted, the artist as instigator, director, and supporter is hidden and staged simultaneously in this new fantastical performance conceived for FIELD MEETING. Composed in free form in collaboration with artists Ron Jean-Gilles & Guillermo Acevedo as a tribute to the often chaotic, mysterious, funny, heartwarming, and masochistic drive in creative practice, which is akin to alchemy.


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Jennifer Wen Ma’s participation in FIELD MEETING was supported by Ink Studio.

Jennifer Wen Ma, The Alchemy of Making Paradise Interrupted, 2016. Performance documentation FIELD MEETING: Thinking Practice, November 11th at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Photo: Renata Carciofolo.

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Jennifer Wen Ma‘s interdisciplinary practice bridges varied media such as installation, drawing, video, public art, design, performance, and theatre; she often brings together unlikely elements in a single piece. In 2008, she was was one of the seven members on the core creative team for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, and the chief designer for visual and special effects. Her projects have been presented at international institutions including: A Beautiful Disorder at Cass Sculpture Foundation, (2016); What About the Art? at Qatar Museums, (2016); Paradise Interrupted, Lincoln Center Festival & National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, (2015). She also performed in the Temple of Dendur, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Flux Projects, Atlanta; Market Square Public Art Program, Pittsburgh, (2015); 5×5 Nonument Park, Washington DC; Vancouver Art Gallery (2014); Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York (2013); Performa 13, New York (2013); The Republic of China Centennial Grand Countdown, Taipei (2010); Biennale of Sydney (2010); the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2008, among others. Solo exhibitions include: Hanart Square, Hong Kong, 2013; Ullens Center For Contemporary Art, Beijing (2012); Eslite Gallery, Taipei (2012).

Jennifer Wen Ma, Paradise Interrupted, 2016. Performance. Courtesy of the artist.

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