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M+, Hong Kong, © Cheng Ran
On View
Mediatheque
Cheng Ran 程然
Simply Wild 絕對狂野
2014
Simply Wild pairs a scrolling, spammy email, written in informal and sloppily typed English, with evocative vignettes shot on Super 8mm film. A passage of Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 21 accompanies these visual elements.
In a tone that is simultaneously playful, desperate, and pushy, the email references past exchanges that ended when the recipient ‘deleted’ the sender. The writer is now single and will soon be moving nearby, they explain, and hopes for the recipient’s help. (‘im gonna need someone to show me the town and take me out so u better be around’, the email reads.) The grainy colour video follows a woman in a red dress to locations throughout a city, often drawing in close to her face. The camera also holds on particular objects and textures, including casino chips, sparkling lights, and splashing liquids.
Simply Wild’s combination of text, image, and music creates a blend of longing, uneasiness, warmth, and distaste. Cheng Ran’s work moves fluidly between formats—in this case, both analogue and digital—to evoke complex, deeply ambiguous feelings underlying contemporary experience.
In a tone that is simultaneously playful, desperate, and pushy, the email references past exchanges that ended when the recipient ‘deleted’ the sender. The writer is now single and will soon be moving nearby, they explain, and hopes for the recipient’s help. (‘im gonna need someone to show me the town and take me out so u better be around’, the email reads.) The grainy colour video follows a woman in a red dress to locations throughout a city, often drawing in close to her face. The camera also holds on particular objects and textures, including casino chips, sparkling lights, and splashing liquids.
Simply Wild’s combination of text, image, and music creates a blend of longing, uneasiness, warmth, and distaste. Cheng Ran’s work moves fluidly between formats—in this case, both analogue and digital—to evoke complex, deeply ambiguous feelings underlying contemporary experience.
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