Ma Wen

 

Jennifer Wen Ma (1973, Beijing, China) is a visual artist who moved to the United States in 1986, and received her Master of Fine Art degree in 1999 from Pratt Institute, New York. Ma works and lives between New York and Beijing. Ma’s interdisciplinary practice bridges varied media such as installation, drawing, video, public art, design, performance, and theatre; often bringing together unlikely elements in a single piece, creating sensitive, poetic and poignant works. 

Recent projects include: The Alchemy of Making at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2017; A Beautiful Disorder at Cass Sculpture Foundation; What About the Art? at Qatar Museums, 2016; Installation opera Paradise Interrupted, Charleston, New York, Singapore, Taiwan, 2015-2018; Flux Projects, Atlanta; Market Square Public Art Program, Pittsburgh, 2015; 5x5 Nonument Park, Washington DC; Vancouver Art Gallery, 2014; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, 2013; Cambio Cultural, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 2013; Performa 13, New York, 2013; The Republic of China Centennial Grand Countdown, Taipei, 2010; Biennale of Sydney, 2010; Echigo-Tsumari Triennial, Japan, 2009; Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain, 2009; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2008; and the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, 2008, among others. 
Solo exhibitions include: Halsey Institute, Charleston, 2019; Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2018; Sandra Gering Inc, New York, 2017; Art021, Shanghai, 2016; Hanart Square, Hong Kong, 2013; Ullens Center For Contemporary Art, Beijing, 2012; Eslite Gallery, Taipei, 2012; and The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC, 2009, and others.
Permanent and long-term public installations include: Nature and Man in Rhapsody of Light at the Water Cube, The National Aquatic Center, Beijing, 2013; In-Between World—Daydream Nation, Digital Beijing Building, 2008; Aeolian Garden, city of Colle di Val d'Elsa, Italy, 2005, among others. 

In 2008, Ma was one of the seven members on the core creative team for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, and the chief designer for visual and special effects, receiving an Emmy Award for the US broadcast of the ceremony.

In 2015, Ma conceived, co-wrote, visually designed and directed installation opera Paradise Interrupted. It was previewed at the Temple of Dendur, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and world premiered at Spoleto Festival USA, Charleston, in 2015; performed at Lincoln Center Festival, New York, and Singapore International Festival of Arts in 2016; National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, Kaohsiung, and National Theatre and Concert Hall, Taipei, in 2018. The opera won the prestigious international award from Music Theatre Now.