A Cup of Sweat

Increasingly, I want my the process of my work to be simple, to even form a linear development of "everyday-ization," and to maintain a naturalist style, but, yet again, I came across some different feelings that do not suit this aesthetic. This implication is quite vague, even for me it is, but in my heart it is what I want to do. There is a necessity for it to occur; for it to exist. For now, let's just call it abstractionist performance art.

432 Seconds

Using my intuition I decided to give this piece, which is full of inherently human qualities, a very digital name, and it seems a bit awkward. This is the first time my creative work has entered this topic. It is very challenging for me, so I need to do it this way. In rationally guiding my feelings and reflections, I want to move the focus of my work into a wider field, to enter a state that is freer both thematically and technically. The insignificant matters of life can make people unstable, and it seems like reality is a mirage. These times express the importance of having an ambiguous technique, and that it can be necessary to decode ideas at times.

At the same time, in order for an exhibition space to be successful in displaying this work, it should be placed in a quiet corner, on a small display screen, like something that was forgotten, while an old electric fan buzzes by its side.

As Easy as Turning over your Hand

This is an experiment in making the body act as language in performance art, to slowly set a simple physical activity into a fixed degree. Then starting to realize how to endure and overcome this process, and to bring about the abundant possibilities on physiological and psychological levels.

I selected a road crossing with over and underpasses and did the project early in the morning. Due to the very slow inversion of the palm, there an inactive state that is inappropriately aware, and strengthening the contrast in the changing speeds of the environment brings about a different feeling. During the slower times I didn't turn off the camera, I want to take the video and process it so that the palm’s movements are the reverse of the ordinary speed and the surrounding environment moves at an abnormal speed. I don't know, take a look and see.

Kitchen Knife

To quote someone else "is it that our emptiness can only be filled by economic means? Perhaps we can only validate our existence with money." In the past ten years, art and money have had this kind of relationship with each other, they fuel each others flames. Now, however, isn't it time that this ends and the two are separated. Try to examine the other side for a moment.

White Line

The 30 Day Project has reached its halfway mark, looking back at the past fifteen days work, there isn't even one clear thread connecting all of the work. A linguistic form, a state where the art's content appears indecisive; this is also a starting point for the composition of meticulous project. So far the rewards from practice and reflection are as good as expected, I certainly need this kind of time frame that gives me a large amount of time yet is still pressured, to quietly go over my work. This is an experience that is hard to come by, and I'm thankful for the help of my friends and family in making it happen.

Writing Blind

This piece is finished. Up to now I hadn’t discovered how to use the body to comply with my style, to set up a style that makes the body lose control. The largest possibility from this is to have a performative quality that rejects the language of the limbs. Blind action makes my decisions in writing lose their accuracy, and so the position of the words are wrong and their meanings fuzzy. This vague or fuzzy nature is a precise demonstration of the definition and nature of art.

I've preserved the simple, restricted, regulated, and ordinary procedures of work life. I'm enjoying how this project has also given my work both pleasure and pressure.

Body Tracks

From last May up to now I've been losing weight, I'm already 26 pounds lighter. My attitude towards how the body itself is used as language within performance art is one of naturalism, rather than the attitude found in traditional dance performances. The only reason I've been losing weight is because I think it’s in bad shape, and because my performance work needs to express my thoughts through the body. In this piece I want to present the body clearly without any other implications, and, actually, the body alone is frequently overloaded with meaning. Looking at the body I am still following the same style that I have before, to create a method in which the body loses control, and to have a performative quality that rejects the language of the body’s limbs.

Memories of Trains

The first time I saw this stagnant abandoned train, it immediately evoked my experience of avoiding a train accident by a mere three seconds. Such intense thoughts made me want to create a piece that connected to this image. Everyone has unforgettable memories in life and find their own thread of intense or subtle feelings. All along I have nurtured the important starting points of my art work.

Something in a Fist

The project is two thirds complete, some friends came over in the afternoon and we had a lively time, then I unexpectedly experienced an absent-minded train of thought. Looks as though it really is important to cultivate the quiet and simple life, after all there are still another ten days to go! Beijing's extreme heat has been met by clouds and rain, and it certainly is refreshing. I want to create a piece about rain. I'm thinking of experiences trying to avoid rain, what I am trying to protect when hiding from the rain anyway? Standing in the rain as my body is becomes soaking wet, but clenching my fists I still protect the inside, yet all that is inside is part of my hand, there's not a thing in the space. What kind of logic is this?

In the first ten minutes of the piece, my body is soaked and gradually I increasingly feel out of sorts. My right hand firmly holds an aching feeling, inside the fist gets hotter and hotter...but gradually the rain lessens and then unexpectedly stops. The piece is not quite complete enough.

I recall however, that perhaps I consequently avoided getting soaked and catching a cold.

Asthma

Maybe its because when I made "Things in a Fist" I got soaked and caught a cold that I’ve started to experience asthma. I started to toss from side to side at night, and suddenly wondered if recording this process it would be considered performance art or not. I'm always on alert in regards to the standards of performance art, and it is possible to break and re-examine day-to-day experiences, otherwise experiences can become an obstacle of previous experiences. This being the case, I have been unclear and cannot determine possibilities. There is a necessity to pull on the standards of this rubber band, to stop it from being too tight or too strictly binding. Furthermore, why shouldn't one want a particular performance?