Name: Lee Mingwei
Occupation: artist
City/Neighborhood: New York City/Financial District
What are you working on now?
Projects for the Shenzhen Sculptural Biennial, the Sydney Biennial, the Hayward Gallery, the Shiseido Gallery, and the European Capital of Culture in Guimarães, Portugal, and some other funny things.
For your piece "The Travelers," which was recently on view at New York's Museum of Chinese in America, you distributed a hundred blank journals in which visitors would write a story of leaving home before passing the journal on to someone else. Have all the journals made it back to the museum now, and how far did they travel?
Only seven journals came back to the museum. The furthest traveled to Iraq.
What place do you call home?
Our apartment in New York, my parents' home in Taipei, and my sister's home in Rome.
Are you the child pictured in "First Day of Kindergarten" on the exhibition poster?
Yes, my mom and I were on our way to kindergarten. I didn't really want to go, so she dressed me in clothes she made for this special day just so I could imagine her hugging me when I needed her at kindergarten. Come to think of it, this might have been my very first encounter with conceptual art and relational aesthetics!
What are your memories of kindergarten in Taipei? Did you already want to be an artist at that age?
I was very much enamored with my homeroom teacher, because not only did he always wear bright-colored pants, he also had a nice smell which reminded me of being in a candy store.
For "The Moving Garden," which was recently on view at the Brooklyn Museum, you placed real flowers in a 45-foot-long granite table. Visitors were invited to take a flower and give it to a stranger upon leaving the museum. How often did you have to replace the flowers?
The museum had to replenish 150 roses every morning before it opened. By around 3pm, most of the flowers would have been taken and given as gifts between strangers.
Did you hear any stories or see any pictures of the flowers being given away?
Yes, the Brooklyn Museum created a Twitter site for participants to post their encounters. One of the most beautiful images is a tiny little girl dressed in a polka-dot dress holding an itty-bitty rose.
What do the ideas of chance and randomness mean to you?
I am fascinated by these two ideas which are quite important in my practice. I often remind myself that if one of my female ancestors didn't go to the market that fateful morning, she would never have met my male ancestor, and thus I would never have existed.
What's the last show that you saw?
A drawing show by visually impaired children in a Taipei subway station of their real and imaginary pets.
Do you make a living off your art?
Hmm, yes and no. Depending on the weather.
What's the most indispensable item in your studio?
I don't have a studio.
Where are you finding ideas for your work these days?
In the bathtub while taking a hot bath and listening to medieval liturgical music.
Do you collect anything?
Dark-colored Indian saris and Japanese kimono fabrics.
What's the first artwork you ever sold, and who bought it?
"Money for Art." It was an interactive installation which consisted of 36 origami shapes made of ten-dollar bills. The participants were asked to exchange it with something they considered as having equal value and leave it on the shelf in place of the sculpture. I don't remember who acquired the project; all I know was the collector lived in Seattle.
What's your favorite place to see art?
At the Met.
Do you have a gallery/museum-going routine?
Not really.
Know any good jokes?
Sid and Al were sitting in a Chinese restaurant. "Sid," asked Al, "are there any Jews in China?"
"I don't know," Sid replied. "Why don't we ask the waiter?"
When the waiter came by, Al asked him, "Are there any Chinese Jews?"
"I don't know sir, let me ask," the waiter replied, and he went into the kitchen. He returned in a few minutes and said, "No, sir. No Chinese Jews."
"Are you sure?" Al asked.
"I will check again, sir," the waiter replied and went back to the kitchen. While he was still gone, Sid said, "I cannot believe there are no Jews in China. Our people are scattered everywhere."
When the waiter returned he said, "Sir, no Chinese Jews."
"Are you really sure?" Al asked again.
"I cannot believe there are no Chinese Jews."
"Sir, I asked everyone," the waiter replied, exasperated. "We have Orange Jews, Prune Jews, Tomato Jews, and Grape Jews, but we have no Chinese Jews."
What's the last great book you read?
"The Gift" by Lewis Hyde.
What work of art do you wish you owned?
Duchamp's "Fountain."
What would you do to get it?
Nothing.
What international art destination do you most want to visit?
Berlin.