France｜1967｜Colour｜DCP｜in French with Chinese and English subtitles
At the very end of Weekend Jean-Luc Godard announced “the end of cinema”, which marks a conclusion of his prolific, highly idiosyncratic and innovative early period. Practically an all-out criticism towards the conservative French bourgeoisie, the film starts with a weekend vacation trip of a typical middle-class family; as the film progresses, the society itself systemically disintegrates and opens up possibilities for fundamental changes and resistance.
In his new commissioned work in the OVERBOOKED: project, Worker/Actors in the World Theatre, artist Tsang Kin Wah selected a short clip from Weekend as part of the installation work: the armed terrorist-cannibal hid in the woods, through the artist’s appropriation and manipulation, turns into an serene image of a civilised book-reading, maiden. Tsang’s work reinterprets Jean-Luc Godard’s visual creation from a very different time and place which urges us to contemplate our vision of an ideal society, the concept of reading and the idea of passing on knowledge.