Space-and-time-at-hand no longer exists. Being in such a huge, empty, and closed space likens to existence in a virtual cyber world. We are removed from our daily space-time experience, thrown into a point of origination. Alone, we face a world of nothingness and uselessness. Space-time is mere chaos, as yet uncut and uncategorized by modernity. The human body also faces the confused situation of being suspended by the absence of everyday objects, i.e., one can no longer perform everyday actions, no longer rely on daily actions to define, manipulate, and give meaning to the body. Furthermore, one is freed from the mode of existence as a modern person, cast into a ‘liminal realm.’

Along with the sense of liberation comes the confusion of what to do with one’s body if one does not behave in a way that has been culturally and socially disciplined. The role of the artist is like an avatar chosen by the viewer of a cyborg. The viewer acts and perceives through the artist’s body, and the artist conveys a new mode of behavior and perception to the viewer.

She reduces her props to a minimum, leaving only her body, a pocket that can hold herself, and a gyroscope. Instead of saying that this is the state of human beings before they learn to use tools, or before they are shaped by tools; I suggest rather that this is the state between human and non-human, the most original state of organic life facing the world. Her slow and grotesque writhing resembles some kind of reptile. Perhaps she is trying to find the connection between human and non-human worlds, extruding this connection from the physical sense of the ‘other’ in nature, so as to reveal another face of existence.

Source: Yanlu Arts ＆ Culture

Author: Liu Yutong

Images: Dai Ming, Sofie Su