Filmscreening An Oops Oolong Tea
with artist Shan He
When:
Sat, November 7, 2026, 2pm–4.30pm
Free admission
Meeting point:
Laterne
In English
When:
Sat, November 7, 2026, 2pm–4.30pm
Free admission
Meeting point:
Laterne
In English
In Chinese, an "oolong" is a funny accident that never should have happened. Oolong tea itself, the story goes, began as one, a mistake while making black tea.
In spring 2024, five groups of artists are invited to a residency on Phoenix Mountain in Chaozhou, one of China’s most celebrated oolong regions. Instead of misty tea gardens, they are met by crowded, bare factory sheds that shatter their romantic expectations.
Oolong is made by hand in a delicate process, and things go wrong. Visiting farmers and learning the craft, the artists keep tasting these mistakes: teas picked too late, leaves grown too large, leaves withered without sun, roasted too long or rolled unevenly. Full of character but rejected by the market, these teas are passed among farmers’ friends and relatives at incredibly low prices. The artists plan a playful "Oops Oolong Tea Competition" to share them.
But as preparations get under way, it becomes clear that the residency organizers, the tea company funding the project and the artists have very different understandings and expectations of the work, and the competition is soon in trouble.
Shan He is one of three artists participating in the "Art and Play in Public Spaces" residency, a collaboration between Artist in Residence Munich, Munich Department of Arts and Culture, and the Lenbachhaus. She is currently a guest at Ebenböckhaus, a residence affiliated with the City of Munich’s artist-in-residence program.
