TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT

Tell Me What You Want (2017) is a mockumentary in four chapters about desire, friendship, and negotiation between a foreign traveler and the local so-called ‘marketeers’ that he encounters on the street in Malate, Manila.

Using a fictitious name, ‘David’, Yu Cheng-Ta travels to Malate, shifting his identity between tourist, friend and artist, allowing him to get involved in ambiguous narratives and relations. In Malate, ‘tell me what you want’ is a common greeting referring to the transactional structures characteristic to the red light districts. By incorporating transaction as a concept for the production of the film, Yu Cheng-Ta delves into a blurred field of tourism, sex industry and performance.

The film screening will be followed by a talk between Yu Cheng-Ta and art critic Maria Bordorff.

Yu Cheng-Ta (1983) lives and works in Taipei, Taiwan. He holds an MA from Taipei National University of the Arts and has received the Beacon Prize at Art Fair Tokyo in 2012. His works have been represented in various contexts internationally such as the 6th Taipei Biennial in 2008, 53rd Venice Biennial in 2009, and the 56th Berlin International Film Festival in 2015. Yu Cheng-Ta is Board Director of Taipei Contemporary Art Center.

Supported by National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan.