Talk + Tour: Tseng Kwong Chi Retrospective with Muna Tseng, Pato Hebert and Alex Fialho

Visual AIDS arranged a guided tour and discussion of "Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera," the first major solo museum exhibition of the work of Tseng Kwong Chi and Tseng Kwong Chi's provocative life and performance-based photography. The tour featured Muna Tseng, choreographer-dancer, sister of Tseng Kwong Chi, and trustee of his estate; Pato Hebert, Associate Arts Professor of Art & Public Policy (TSOA), NYU; and Alex Fialho, Programs Manager, Visual AIDS.

Born in Hong Kong and later based in New York City, Tseng Kwong Chi (1950–1990) produced a large body of witty, playful, performance-based photography that both captures the pivotal Manhattan downtown and club scenes and reflects the increasingly globalized movement of people across nations and continents. In so doing, he raised critical questions about identity and culture. Featuring cutting-edge examples from Tseng’s archive that have rarely or never been shown, Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera is the first major solo museum exhibition of his works, which have long sparked the imaginations of younger artists. Curated by Amy Brandt, McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art, the exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalog.

Muna Tseng, choreographer-dancer, founder of Muna Tseng Dance Projects, has made over 30 original works, often in collaboration with composers, directors and visual artists engaged in contemporary practice. Her works have been performed in New York and presented around the world since 1979. She is the trustee of the Tseng Kwong Chi estate.

Pato Hebert is an artist, educator and cultural worker. He teaches as an Associate Arts Professor in the Art and Public Policy Department at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Hebert has has worked in community-based HIV prevention and mobilization efforts since 1994.

Alex Fialho, Programs Manager at Visual AIDS, has facilitated projects and conversations around both the history and immediacy of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, utilizing art to maintain HIV/AIDS visibility, consider its legacy, and galvanize contemporary response. He has presented his research on the art of Glenn Ligon and Keith Haring at the College Art Association and NYU Fales Library. He is also frequent contributor to Artforum.com and Artforum International Magazine.