++++ Up until he was four years old, Jun Yang knew who he was, namely, a small child who lived in China with his parents. But then everything started to become difficult because in 1979 his parents emigrated from China to Europe and landed in Vienna where they initially just wanted to wait for their official documents. But they never reached their original destination, Belgium. At some point they had ceased to want to go there. Why should they, because both places were equally alien and above all they were not China, so what difference did it make?
Jun Yang started to learn German. He also learned that it was not at all a simple matter to be Jun Yang in Vienna, whereas it was thoroughly a simple matter to be Jun Yang in China. People did not understand his name, could not remember it, spelled it wrongly and were not even interested in how to pronounce it. His name which, before the move to Europe, still consisted of Chinese characters, was first given a completely different appearance. Then — and that may have had at least an equally great unsettling effect — it was given numerous erroneous variations by Jun Yang's social surroundings. He even received mail for Mrs June Young.
In his contribution to Manifesta, Jun Yang is preoccupied with himself. His name is a simple epitome of identity. His means are also simple. On a monitor with a black background he shows the different variations which his name has gone through in the course of the years and he comments on the individual stages, from the original Chinese meaning, warrior, through to the absurd versions which were assigned to it in Europe. Jun Yang's works have already been on show in other large exhibitions including New Home in the Frankfurt Kunstverein. Today he lives partly in China again. Otherwise he is Jun Yang, an artist who lives in Vienna.
Frankensteiner Hof, Große Rittergasse 103, until 25 August hoh