'Hidden Qi 隐.气' / Mindy Meng Wang 王萌 and Tim Shiel [Music Video]
Chinese-Australian avant-garde composer Mindy Meng Wang 王萌 and Tim Shiel team up with Eye to Eye productions to present a video clip for Hidden Qi: a nostalgic exploration of duality, time and tradition.
The visual accompaniment of Hidden Qi created by Eye to Eye Productions offers both calmness and tension. Showered in muted tonal colours, nostalgic scenery and handheld camera work, the film clip draws the viewer into an abstract space, removed from the conventional trappings of linear time. Director Athina Wilson comments on the directorial decisions:
“We wanted to focus on the intersections and contrasts between the contemporary and traditional, as well as Western and Eastern philosophy.
This was mainly inspired by Mindy's performance and style of work. We delved into ‘Qi’ when coming up with the concept, which could be defined as this circulating life force that derives from Chinese philosophy.”
Beyond the prominent Eastern influence, Mindy’s own relationship with dual cultural identities is dissected with nuance throughout the film, highlighting the often tense relationship between Eastern and Western philosophy. Notably, the stark so-called ‘Australian’ landscape the viewers see is punctuated with the ceremonious capturing of Mindy Meng Wang’s incredible guzheng performance. The duality and tension was also important for film producer Yang Chen, as she notes:
“I feel as though the concept behind the track was so clearly laid out that it was very easy for us to come up with a visual storyline that supported this idea of East and West colliding….
Coming from a Chinese background myself, I really enjoyed being able to delve into these concepts such as the contemporary and traditional.”
Hidden Qi is the second single from Mindy Meng Wang and Tim Shiel’s collaborative EP Nervous Energy. The EP is available now both digitally and on limited edition vinyl via Music in Exile, a not-for-profit label aimed at profiling Narrm musicians from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
Stay up to date with Mindy Meng Wang on Instagram and Bandcamp
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Article by Anna Durham (@hyphira)
Images by Nick McKinlay (@nick_mckk)
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