THE visitor is take by the cinematic and beautiful sounds of MoMA’s atrium, where Isaac Julien’s installation Ten Thousand Waves is on show right now. The sound is the first thing one is struck with, sitting or standing underneath the giant screens. The sounds are enigmatic, elegant and the voices are beautifully synchronized with the projected image. My first thought was that the projections were in fact taken from the 2002 movie Hero by Zhang Yimou, where the swords men and women fight in ethereal landscapes, a movie defining visual grandeur. Maggie Cheung, who played the “flying snow” in Hero had a role in this installation as well. Hovering and flying, clad in the white filmy robes that accentuate the “flying” effect, across the cityscape and in various scenes. Cheung’s inviting and ravishing face invites the viewer to take part of her expressive emotions.
The projections also recall the aesthetic of Kar Wai Wong’s 2000 movie “In the Mood for Love”. Set in a 1960’s Hong Kong, where Maggie Cheung is playing a woman tired of waiting for her husband working abroad and falling in love with a neighbor instead. Julien’s projection is also a response to the tragic death of a group of Chinese cockle pickers, who were surprised by a tide coming in and cut off from the shore. Therefore the Chinese influence of the projections. Through the visually pleasing projections Julien is also trying to insert some social criticism; by showing different views of today’s Shanghai where the skyscrapers tower over the street life. A voice saying “communism gave way for capitalism” is heard and various scenes of people pop-up. Another scene is showing the calligrapher Gong Fagen drawing traditional Chinese signs on glass, which gets washed off by his apprentices.
The installation is set up so that no position is better than the other. One is almost forced to move around it to get a overview of it. Sitting on the small stools makes the viewer immersed in the projection. A culmination of the projection can be seen in the scene where a lady is walking across a room with a sweeping view over modern Shanghai, she sits down and answers the phone. The suspenseful and attractive sound accompanied with this segment resonates well with the eerie and apocalyptic mood of the installation.
China is a very fascinating country in a changing socio-economic phase that is highlighted in the projections by Julien. A powerful message is conveyed through the inspiration of Chinese culture and an elaborate installation.
Screens and Screenings 