Jo-ey Tang at Shimmer

Artist: Jo-ey Tang

Exhibition title: More More More Than Than Than Lovers Lovers Lovers More More More Than Than Than Friends Friends Friends

Curated by: Shimmer (Eloise Sweetman and Jason Hendrik Hansma)

Venue: Shimmer, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Date: April 8 – May 21, 2022

Photography: jhoeko / all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Shimmer, Rotterdam

Version for Shimmer with contributions by ⁠Arin Rungjang, Bas Hendrikx, Bea McMahon, Florence Bonnefous, Francisco Salas, Francois Piron, Heman Chong, Jill H. Casid, Joshua Leon, Laëtitia Badaut Haussmann, Laurent Sanguinetti, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Marina Otero Verzier, Matt Hinkley, Max Andrews, Max Thomas Sanderson, Maya Tounta with Aris Mochloulis, Moosje Moti Goosen, Nina Vaisman, and Willem de Rooij⁠i Goosen, Nina Vaisman, and Willem de Rooij⁠.

More More More Than Than Than Lovers Lovers Lovers More More More Than Than Than Friends Friends Friends is a looped supercut of film endings, selected by those who Shimmer admires. A compilation of final scenes and musical accompaniments with the closing credits, these endings are experienced repeatedly, back to back.

Tang writes:

Film endings as film spoilers as litmus tests, subjectivity, social being, and attitude towards time and things. I have long filled my waking hours with this protracted moment of film endings, during which I sense my consciousness shift when what I am hearing no longer matches what I am seeing or have seen on the screen. Staying long enough through the credits when that second pop song seems jarring to the narrative of the film, like in a taxi ride where you are under the whims of the driver and the radio station. It’s a contradictory and liberatory feeling that can reset life and separate life into before and after. The film is a delirium. The film would go on without me. Or the film has exited before me. Emerging out of the cinema, jolted back into my life, I notice myself watching myself. Again, going at it as more than lovers and more than friends.

In past iterations of this project: More Than Lovers More Than Friends (FUTURA, Prague, 2016), More More Than Than Lovers Lovers More More Than Than Friends Friends (Ozas kino salė, Vilnius, organized with Rupert, 2017) over 50 participants were invited to contribute their favourite film endings. In this Shimmer version, Tang thinks it makes sense to hand over the responsibility of invitation, for Shimmer to invite those that we admired.

In the fourth year since Shimmer’s establishment, More More More Than Than Than Lovers Lovers Lovers More More More Than Than Than Friends Friends Friends marks a return to a beginning, not an end, of a new phase, post-pandemic at Shimmer. We return to hosting Shimmer as a place of quiet encounter and conversation amongst a single artwork formed by new and old friends. Through More More More Than Than Than Lovers Lovers Lovers More More More Than Than Than Friends Friends Friends, we celebrate the return of the exhibition as a studio and office by turning part of the space into a semi-lounge space where visitors are invited to make tea and coffee while watching the video work. To be together, to celebrate endings and new beginnings.

JO-EY TANG is a Hong Kong–born American artist, curator, and writer, in non-hierarchical order. In thinking with and alongside artists, he often calibrates and reimagines the encounters of divergent and resonant artistic practices in multiple, overlapping temporalities. Currently, he lives in San Francisco, where he is Director of KADIST San Francisco. Previously, he was arts editor of n+1 (2009-2014), curator at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2014-2015) and Director of Exhibitions at Beeler Gallery at Columbus College of Art & Design (2018-2020), where he first launched the exhibition project arms ache avid aeon: Nancy Brooks Brody / Joy Episalla / Zoe Leonard / Carrie Yamaoka: fierce pussy amplified, with “chapters” transiting to Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2019), Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2023), and in book form. He has curated exhibitions internationally, including DUST: The plates of the present at Centre Pompidou, Paris (2020–2021); More Than Lovers, More Than Friends at FUTURA Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague (2016), and the online exhibition VAGABOND \ A Place Hard to Place / for kim? Contemporary Art Center, Riga (with Zane Onckule, 2022). Tang’s writing has appeared in publications such as Artforum.com, The Brooklyn Rail, Flash Art, Kaleidoscope, and ArtAsiaPacific. He is co-editor of Curatorial Feelings (with Eloise Sweetman, Shimmer Press, 2021) and shelf documents: art as library practice (with Heide Hinrichs and Elizabeth Haines, Track Report and b books, 2021).

ARIN RUNGJANG is an artist living and working in Thailand
ARIS MOCHLOULIS is an artist living and working in Greece
BAS HENDRIKX is a curator living and working in The Netherlands
BEA MCMAHON is an artist living and working in The Netherlands
FLORENCE BONNEFOUS is a gallerist living and working in France
FRANCISCO SALAS is a gallerist living and working in Spain
FRANCOIS PIRON is a curator living and working in France
HEMAN CHONG is an artist living and working in Singapore
JILL H. CASID is a theorist living and working in the United States of America
JOSHUA LEON is an artist living and working in the United Kingdom
LAËTITIA BADAUT HAUSSMANN is an artist living and working in France
LAURENT SANGUINETTI is an illustrator living and working in the United States of America
MARIANA CÁNEPA LUNA is a curator living and working in Spain
MARINA OTERO VERZIER is a curator living and working in The Netherlands
MATT HINKLEY is an artist living and working in The Netherlands
MAX ANDREWS is a curator living and working in Spain
MAX THOMAS SANDERSON is a fashion designer living and working in France
MAYA TOUNTA is a curator living and working in Greece
MOOSJE MOTI GOOSEN is a writer living and working in The Netherlands
NINA VAISMAN is a video editor living and working in The Netherlands
WILLEM DE ROOIJ⁠ is an artist living and working in Germany

Film endings:

And Life Goes On (1995), directed by Abbas Kiarostami
And Then We Danced (2019), directed by Levan Akin
And the Ship Sails On (1983), Federico Fellini
Atonement (2007), directed by Joe Wright
Bande a Part (1964), directed by Jean-Luc Godard
Beau Travail (1999), directed by Claire Denis
Big Lebowski, The (1998), directed by Coen Brothers
Cinema Paradiso (1988), directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
Everyone says I love you (1996), directed by Woody Allen
Gattaca (1997), directed by Andrew Niccol
Ghost Dance (1983), directed by Ken McMullen
Happy Together (1997), directed by Wong Kar-Wai
Human Voice, The (2020), directed by Pedro Almodovar
Inauguration of The Pleasure Dome (1954), directed by Kenneth Anger
More (1969), directed by Barbet Schroeder
Parallel Mothers (2021), directed by Pedro Almodovar
Un condamné à mort s’est échappé (1956), directed by Robert Bresson
Rocky Road to Dublin (1967), directed by Peter Lennon
Wanda (1970), directed by Barbara Loden
Wan Pipel (1976), directed by Pim de la Parra
Zabriskie Point (1970), directed by Michelangelo Antonioni

More More More Than Than Than Lovers Lovers Lovers More More More Than Than Than Friends Friends Friends by Jo-ey Tang with film endings selected by Arin Rungjang, Bas Hendrikx, Bea Mcmahon, Florence Bonnefous, Francisco Salas, Francois Piron, Heman Chong, Jill H. Casid, Joshua Leon, Laëtitia Badaut Haussmann, Laurent Sanguinetti, Mariana Cánepa Luna, Marina Otero Verzier, Matt Hinkley, Max Andrews, Max Thomas Sanderson, Maya Tounta with Aris Mochloulis, Moosje Moti Goosen, Nina Vaisman, and Willem de Rooij. Edited Video on HD Video Screen, 156cm x 97cm x 36cm, Wuyi Jin Guan Yin, Wuyi Shan (winter of 2021) tea, made for viewing audience at Shimmer, Wool Felt 183cm x 183cm