Abiding Nowhere
Tsai Ming-Liang / Taiwan & United States / 2024 / 79 min
A barefoot monk slowly wanders through the streets of Washington DC in Tsai Ming-liang's new and meditative work, which uses few and simple means to send one’s mind wandering (and wondering) along.
Tsai Ming-liang has officially stopped making feature films, but the Taiwanese genius continues to create works in the field between video art and performance. His latest work is a contribution to the ongoing ‘Walker’ series, and is one of the few of his works not set in his home country. Here, Tsai has sent his loyal actor Lee Kang-sheng (who appears in all of his films) to Washington DC on a slow-motion walking tour of the US capital. Dressed in Buddhist monks’ robes, whose distinctive red colour contrasts sharply with the other pedestrians in the city’s streets, parks and museums. So does Lee’s meditative pace. Passers-by stop, wonder or ignore the unusual sight – but the reaction of the outside world is precisely one of the points of Tsai’s understated and generous work, a silent protest against society’s equally silent demands for efficiency.