Timon of Athens

Overview

In April of 1986, Wen Pulin and his then-wife Zheng Ziru directed students at Beijing Second Foreign Language Institute in an English-language play adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens." The play was part of "The First Shakespeare Festival in China," and in a move that was unusual for the era, Wen — who had already dabbled in independent filming with his students — decided to record the entirety of the play. This 'video' was screened for public audiences the same year of its production. And in March of 1987, it was displayed on television sets as a 'video installation' during the "Wen Pulin 1987 Art Exhibition." It is one of the earliest examples of video art in China.