Practical Dreamers: Conversations with Movie Artists
Coach House Books, 2008
ISBN 1 55245 200 X
Mike Hoolboom interviews Canadian-born video artist Wayne Yung about how he became an artist, what brought him to leave Canada, and what kind of responsibilities he feels towards representing gay Asian subjectivities in his work. In response, Yung discusses the history of representations of gay Asian men on screen and the role it plays in the politics of his work today.
Yung speaks of his shift away from this topic since his relocation to Germany and an intentional focus on the production of dialogue between artist and audience through video art.
Hoolboom and Yung discuss the latter's emergence into the art scene by tackling topics of HIV and queer relationships in his work from his native Vancouver and how the interaction between these two issues has changed globally since the 1990s.
Yung talks about how languages (Cantonese, English, French, German) and non-linguistic thought processes play a large role in his artistic practice by discussing various works.
Hoolboom inquires about Yung's continuous engagement with the intersections between art, politics, the personal, and the private, and the ways in which these are productive for the artist's developing practice.
ITEM 2008.194 – available for viewing in the Research Centre
Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited
Lotus Sisters – Wayne Yung
Peter Fucking Wayne Fucking Peter – Wayne Yung
My German Boyfriend – Wayne Yung
One Night in Heaven – Wayne Yung
Search Engine – Wayne Yung
The Queen's Cantonese – Wayne Yung
Davie Street Blues – Wayne Yung
Miss Popularity – Wayne Yung
Field Guide to Western Wildflowers – Wayne Yung