Dance performance “Angkor Wat Project”, by Shen Wei
Paris, May 14, 2025. In a spellbinding debut at the Musée Guimet—France’s national museum for Asian arts—internationally acclaimed choreographer and visual artist Shen Wei unveiled his newest interdisciplinary creation: The Angkor Wat Project. More than a performance, it was a transcendental journey through time, cultures, and the inner self.
Among the audience was Dr. Gao Yuan, Secretary-General of the UK Tsinghua Association, who not only attended the world premiere but also engaged afterward in a profound dialogue with Mr. Evrard Didier, former Director of the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts de Paris and current President of France’s National Graphic Design Center, Le Signe. Together, they reflected on the spiritual architecture and cultural resonance of Shen Wei’s latest creation.
Shen Wei × UK Tsinghua Association:
A Connection Born in London
Painting “Reflecting Element”, by Shen Wei, featured in the First Tsinghua Alumni London Art Exhibition
The collaboration between Shen Wei and the UK Tsinghua Association traces back to 2024, when Shen participated in the First Tsinghua Alumni London Art Exhibition. There, he not only showcased his painting Reflecting Element but also served as a guest mentor.
Angkor Wat Project:
A Cross-Civilizational, Multimedia Meditation
Dance performance “Angkor Wat Project”, by Shen Wei
Performed within the sacred halls of the Musée Guimet and in tandem with its concurrent exhibition of Royal Khmer Bronzes, Shen Wei’s Angkor Wat Project formed a luminous dialogue across millennia—between ancient relics and contemporary expression, material culture and spiritual memory. Drawing from Shen’s contemplative pilgrimage to the ancient ruins of Angkor, the piece reimagines the bodily gestures of everyday Cambodians, the ambient sounds of tropical forests, and the mystic stillness of stone deities into a tapestry of movement, imagery, and sound. As reported by China Daily and Nouvelles d’Europe, the work is at once documentary and dreamscape, both a preservation and reinvention of cultural memory.
Structured in four parts—“The Face,” “The Three,” “The Nature,” and “The Cultural”—the performance moves between sculptural stillness and fluid motion, between silence and resonance. Dancers morph into incarnations of ancient gods or spirits of the jungle, evoking deep reflection on time, memory, the body, and the self.
“Man fashions the world, and the world, in turn, shapes the self; Return to nature, and nature is inscribed within the soul; Gaze into the past, and its shadows stand before us like a mirror.” In this multisensory, cross-media work, the body becomes a language, and the stage becomes a site of invocation and introspection. The Angkor Wat Project is not simply a homage to ancient civilizations—it is a philosophical proposition: a meditation on how humanity might rebuild meaning through perception, answer to the age through art, and transcend borders through the body.
Gao Yuan × Evrard Didier:
A Bridge Between Civilizations
After the performance, Dr. Gao Yuan and Mr. Evrard Didier engaged in a wide-ranging dialogue about the cultural and artistic significance of Shen Wei’s work.
About Evrard Didier:
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Former Chairman of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (2004–2011)
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President of Le Signe – France’s National Center for Graphic Design (2017–present)
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Former Executive at Banque Paribas in Taipei, Singapore, and Hong Kong, with deep involvement in Sino-French cultural exchange
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Recipient of the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and the Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Selected Highlights from the Dialogue:
On Shen Wei’s Role as a Cultural Bridge:
“Shen Wei is not merely a Chinese artist or a Western choreographer. He is a builder of bridges between civilizations.”
Mr. Didier emphasized that Shen’s work transcends national identity, stylistic convention, and artistic labels. Rooted in Eastern philosophy yet infused with Western modernist spirit, his artistic language resonates universally. His body is itself a medium of cultural communication, breaking linguistic barriers and generating emotional resonance among viewers across continents.
On the Philosophy of the Stage:
“His choreography is not narrative but contemplative—a dialogue between inner spirit and outer cosmos.”
Didier noted that Shen breaks free from the conventional dramaturgy of plot-driven choreography. Instead, he treats the body as a vessel of awareness, a mirror of emotion, and an echo of the Dao. Movement in his work does not represent meaning; it becomes meaning. This echoes Eastern meditative practices like zhiguan (止观) or the Daoist ethos of wuwei (无为)—rarely has Eastern thought been internalized so successfully into a stage vocabulary.
On East–West Civilizational Tensions and Convergences:
“France treasures memory; China venerates nature. Shen Wei exists within this tension—and transforms it into art.”
French aesthetics often privilege the rational order of classical heritage, while Chinese thought leans toward a reverence for nature and inner harmony. Shen Wei does not dazzle with Western technique or dissolve into Eastern mysticism; instead, he charts a third way—where the body becomes ink, time becomes paper, and the result is a soul-map for the contemporary world.
A full video of their conversation is available below.
Epilogue: Toward the Future
From the Tsinghua Alumni London Art Exhibition in 2024 to the world premiere in Paris in 2025, from creation across borders to dialogue beyond languages, Shen Wei, with the body as his pen and art as his bridge, has drawn his vision of Angkor of the Mind. This profound and soul-stirring performance reaffirms what we deeply believe:
Art is not a label but a path of the soul;
Not a conclusion but a connection;
Not a structure but a becoming.
The UK Tsinghua Association remains steadfast in its support for Chinese artists on the global stage, and in its commitment to nurturing future moments of brilliance for Tsinghua’s artistic alumni. We believe that the thoughts and creations of every Tsinghua individual are part of a shared endeavor to build a richer, deeper future for global civilization.
感谢长期合作伙伴
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内容 | 宋佳煜
字幕 | 张婧雯
校对 | 李德光
排版 | 李德光 夏彤
审稿 | 高远
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