Story:

Sculptural works constructed with beer bottles, film stills, and iconic Berlin stickers that reference the characters Tao and Sebastian from the film "Beer! Beer!". Flowers in the bottles ironically extend the film's anti-romantic humor into sculptural form. By transforming cinematic imagery into an object in space, this work captures a tension between intimacy, absurdity, and vulnerability.

In 2017 I came to Berlin with a scholarship from Robert Bosch and Literature Column Berlin to conduct research on Asian diaspora in the nightlife of Berlin. Over one year, I intensively went clubbing and experienced many things I had heard about before, but also encountered firsthand stories I had never known. These experiences inspired me to write the script for "Beer! Beer!". Luckily I was able to shoot the film in 2018 within just three days—an experience almost as intense as what unfolds in the film itself.

After the film was shown frequently, I received messages from strangers of different identities telling me this is exactly their story. The micro-aggressions featured in the film were drawn from real life. Some of them I had experienced, others I imagined, but after the film's release I really encountered them firsthand. I had to laugh out loud at moments when white people tried to guess my age or told me I'm "the tallest Asian man they've ever met."

This sculpture series emerged from that tension. The beer bottles and flowers sit in ironic conversation with each other—a reflection of the dark humor and unexpected tenderness that runs through both the film and my experience of belonging and not belonging in Berlin's queer nightlife.