Shu Lea Cheang Papers
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Abstract
Born in Taiwan in 1954, installation artist, filmmaker, and media activist Shu Lea Cheang received a BA in history from National Taiwan University in 1976 and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University in 1979. She began her career in New York City as a member of the grassroots alternative media collectives Paper Tiger TV (from 1980 to 1990) and Deep Dish TV (from 1984 to 1990). She has since worked as a multimedia artist, creating internet-based participatory art installations and films critiquing political oppression, militarism, racism, heteronormativity, limits to freedom of expression, and also technological and environmental issues. In her career as a multimedia artist, her work has transitioned through the years from film and video to digital, to collaborating with web designers, technologists, writers and performance artists creating participatory works that enact cyber activism. The collection spans the years from 1971 to 2017, with the bulk of materials from 1989 to 2002. Although Cheang's collection documents most of her creations, the artworks and films prominently featured in this collection are Making News Making History: Live from Tiananmen Square (1989-1990); Color Schemes (1989); Those Fluttering Objects of Desire (1992); Fresh Kill (1994, restored in 2024); Bowling Alley (1995); Brandon (1998-1999); I.K.U. (2000); and Garlic=Richair (2002). The concept, design, execution, installation, promotion, and exhibition of these pieces are documented through paper and electronic formats, which include correspondence, project proposals, script drafts, notebooks, diagrams and sketches, photographic images, promotional material, reviews, press clippings, and research files. Edits and footage related to Cheang's films and installations are represented within the audiovisual material in a variety of formats.
Biographical Note
Born in Taiwan in 1954, installation artist, filmmaker, and media activist Shu Lea Cheang received a BA in history from National Taiwan University (1976) and an MA in Cinema Studies from New York University (1979). She began her career in New York City as a member of the grassroots alternative media collectives Paper Tiger TV (from 1980-1990) and Deep Dish TV (from 1984-1990).
Since the 1980s, Cheang has worked as a multimedia and new-media artist. Her internet-based participatory art installations and films address political oppression, militarism, racism, heteronormativity, freedom of expression, and also technological and environmental issues. She also drafts sci-fi narratives for her films and artworks, crafting her own "science" fiction genre of new queer cinema.
Cheang is regarded as a pioneering figure in internet-based art, with her multimedia approach using film, video, internet-based installation, software interaction and durational performance. She has collaborated with web designers, technologists, writers and performance artists to create participatory works that enact cyber activism. This cyber activism has involved the creation of progressive communities and awareness-raising around the recurring issues of power and desire.
The artist maintains a 21-acre estate in the Catskills Mountain region of Andes, New York, on which she grants groups of artists and farmers six-month residencies to farm and create art.
Arrangement
The collection has been arranged by an archivist, chronologically by art project date which is indicated in parenthesis after the title. Files found within each project title are arranged chronologically. Material not related to a specific project is listed chronologically before or after groups of project files.
Scope and Contents
The Shu Lea Cheang Papers (1971-2024) contains material related to artworks and films created by Shu Lea Cheang. The material in this collection not only represents one artist but also provides insight into the evolution of multimedia art at the turn of the 20th century when artists began to experiment more with combinations of film, digital, and web-based media. Art installation and film themes in Cheang's work center on political oppression, militarism, racism, heteronormativity, limits to freedom of expression, and technological and environmental issues.
The conception, design, execution, installation, promotion, and exhibition of Cheang's art installations and films are documented in this collection through paper and electronic files dating from 1971 to 2017, with the bulk of materials from 1989 to 2002. Files typically contain correspondence, project proposals, budgets, scripts and drafts, diagrams and sketches, photographic images in various formats, promotional material, and press clippings. Audiovisual material in this collection can be found on a variety of formats and includes recordings from early film producing projects; master edits and negatives of films; and videos used in art installations.
Cheang has generated a large body of work and this collection documents the majority of those artistic projects to some degree, but there are nine works with significant documentation in this collection. Her early work Making News Making History: Live from Tiananmen Square (1989-1990) is a collection of videos created during her two weeks in China, reviewing the media frenzy leading to the military action on June 4th, and similarly, her installation Will Be Televised: Video Documents from Asia (1990) is a series of five one-hour programs compiled from five regions in Asia, documenting camcorder users active in local struggles for press freedom and democracy. Color Schemes (1990) is an installation using the washing machine as a metaphor for the great American "melting pot" of ethnicity, presenting individuals from various ethnic backgrounds "representing" their ethnicity, creating a multi-layered discourse on racism and assimilation. Those Fluttering Objects of Desire (1993) recreates coin-operated pornography booths, with the concept behind it being the construction of desire in categorical ways, the form of the piece speaking to sexual desire as something that is constantly evading the viewer. Bowling Alley (1995) addresses power, access, and desire in public and private spaces within three separate installation sites and a web-based installation. Brandon (1998-1999) is a multifaceted web project that uses the nonlinear and participatory nature of the Internet as a means to explore and illuminate the story of Brandon Teena, a young transgender man, who was raped and murdered in Nebraska by two men when it was discovered that he was anatomically female. This project includes graphic surgery images in paper and electronic form in this collection. Garlic=Richair (2002) was an interactive online art project that imagined a post-capitalist society in the year 2030 in which community wireless would be the only internet and organic garlic the primary currency. Cheang's films Fresh Kill (1994, restored in 2024) revolves around two lesbian parents who are drawn into a corporate conspiracy involving the Fresh Kills Landfill and I.K.U. (2001) is self-described as a cyberporno.
Interspersed between these work files are Cheang's personal photographs; notebooks (1977 to 1997) containing ideas and plans for potential and existing projects; calendars and appointment books; 1977-1978 class papers from NYU; funding proposals and research; press clippings; written correspondence and emails; and recordings containing samples of multiple works most likely used for funding proposals and presentations. The collection contains Paper Tiger TV photographs of filming, notes, and video recordings of some episodes.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder, Shu Lea Cheang.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Shu Lea Cheang Papers; MSS 381; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Shu Lea Cheang, 2013; the accession number associated with this donation is 2013.381. In 2024, a restoration of Fresh Kill was added to the collection; the accession number for this accretion is 2024.025.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Access to some audiovisual items in this collection is available through digitized access copies. Researchers may view an item's original container, but the media themselves are not available for playback because of preservation concerns. Materials that have already been digitized are noted in the collection's finding aid and can be requested in our reading room.
Audiovisual materials that have not been preserved may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact special.collections@nyu.edu or 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Appraisal
The following items were separated from the collection:
Two cartons of publications; extensive duplicate print material; financial material; tax documents; a Garlic=Richair project stamp; oversize movie posters; collected business cards; loose board game currency; oversize print of a Czech political figure; a Japanese fellowship certificate; 4 rolls of unused film negatives; a tin filled with painted fish; a tin filled with leaves and chrysalises; and an NYU diploma. Also, select mold and rodent-damaged paper materials were discarded as they were not original copies.
Video and photography equipment including AC adapters/camera chargers; several cameras (still and video); a remote control; AUX cables and other wires; a lightbulb, a mobile phone, ethernet cables; modem/lan and fax/mobile data cards; 5 phones and their associate cables from the Desire project.
Eight born-digital carriers were removed after forensic imaging and analysis determined items contained no usable data or were blank.
Two U-matic tapes and one VHS were removed due to mold infestation. Commercial audiovisual materials were removed: Dandy Dust; Ah! The Hopeful Pageantry of Bread and Puppet; Constance; ODË; You Don't Know Dick; and The Brandon Teena Story.
About this Guide
Processing Information
In August 2017, one box of photographs was prepared to be moved to offsite art storage in September 2017. An initial survey was completed on the entire collection, and material was placed in new acid-free folders and boxes.
In 2020, all paper folders were replaced and original caption information, when available, was transcribed onto the new folders, while also adding the name of the artwork project when necessary. Select creator-supplied titles with potentially harmful transgender terminology were identified in this collection, but have been retained to convey important contextual information regarding time and place in which the documents and titles were created. A majority of the material was work files, which could naturally be grouped together. Private information was redacted from four files and the originals were separated from the collection. Oversized material was removed from smaller folders, sent to preservation for unfolding, and then placed in appropriate housing.
Previous to the 2020 processing, 2 audio and 2 video recordings were digitized and access copies were created, and 25 film reels were rehoused by preservation. In 2020 the remaining audiovisual materials were assigned unique numbers, labeled, and physcially grouped together by format into new containers.
In 2016, 108 digital carriers including floppy computer disks, Data CDs, Jaz drives, and Zip drives were numbered and labeled, then forensically imaged. In 2020, additional carriers were imaged, analyzed, and arranged in Forensic Toolkit. Twenty-one digital objects were created and added into the collection inventory to repressent the 22,000 computer files. New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content. Nine minidiscs and 3 data cartridges (FA_MSS_381_53 -- FA_MSS_381_60; FA_MSS_381_74 -- FA_MSS_381_76; FA_MSS_381_85) can't be presently accessed.
Three record cartons, plus an oversized folder of materials were sent to the preservation lab for treatment and rehousing. Material includes film reels, plastic pills with paper messages, thermal paper, plans/maps, and a flag/banner. In 2021, thermal rolls from Those Fluttering Objects of Desire were rehoused by conservators.
In 2024, an accretion (2024.025) was added to the collection.
