Timon of Athens

In September of 1986, Wen Pulin directed his theater students at Beijing International Studies Academy in an English-language play adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Timon of Athens." The play was part of "China's First Shakespeare Festival," in autumn of 1986, and in a move that was unusual for the era, Wen — who had already dabbled with independent filming with his students – decided to record the entirety of the play. In March of 1987, the play was displayed on television sets as a 'video installation' for the "Wen Pulin Art Exhibition," which also exhibited Wen's paintings, and other forms of visual media. From this history, we can glean that "Timon of Athens" is one of the earliest examples of video art in China.