Wu Tsang

Wu Tsang (born 1982 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is a filmmaker, artist, and performer based in New York and Berlin whose work explores hidden histories, marginalized narratives, and the politics of visibility. Tsang’s practice spans film, performance, and installation, often centering queer and trans communities, immigrant experiences, and the social conditions that shape public and private space. Their work frequently engages with the body as a site of transformation, using performance theory and trans embodiment to question how identities are constructed, perceived, and regulated.

Tsang is known for blending documentary and fiction, creating hybrid forms that foreground collaboration and collective authorship. Their early involvement in Los Angeles queer nightlife and community organizing—particularly at the Silver Platter, a historic bar for Latinx LGBTQ+ communities, informs much of their artistic approach. This context shaped works such as Wildness (2012), a film that examines queer nightlife, immigrant community spaces, and the politics of belonging through experimental narrative strategies.

Collaboration is central to Tsang’s practice, especially their long‑standing partnership with the performer boychild. Together, they have produced performances and installations for major museums and biennials, using movement, sound, and light to explore themes of opacity, legibility, and queer‑of‑color critique. Their work often challenges institutional frameworks by foregrounding embodied knowledge, affective labor, and the politics of representation.

In 2018, Tsang received a MacArthur “genius” grant in recognition of their innovative contributions to contemporary art and performance. According to Tsang, her films, videos, and performances look to explore the "in-betweenness" in which people and ideas cannot be discussed in binary terms. Generally, her films form a hybrid of narrative and documentary; they do not conform fully to one form or the other.

Her projects have been presented at the Tate Modern (London), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), Migros Museum (Zurich), the Whitney Museum and the New Museum (New York), the MCA Chicago, MoCA Los Angeles and SFMOMA (San Francisco). In 2012 she participated in the Whitney Biennial, Liverpool Biennial and Gwangju Biennial.