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Survival (II) (2021–2022) is a series of performance documentation created amidst the recurring COVID-19 lockdowns and strict containment measures in Mainland China.

This series examines the automobile as a distinct social architecture. Framed as "boxes," the vehicles serve not only as physical barriers against the outside world but as the last bastions of freedom of movement. It posits the car as a site of resistance: a mobile sanctuary where the private self can be preserved. Amidst the strictures of the pandemic, these confined spaces paradoxically offer the only true autonomy, transforming the driver’s seat into a crucial vessel of independence.

#VIDEO #PERFORMANCE #INTERVENTION 




Insomnia
 
2021 

Single-channel video, color, sound

00’55”
 Set against the backdrop of the pandemic, Insomnia transforms a symbol of mobility—the car—into a site of confinement and conflict. With travel restricted, the idle vehicle becomes a piece of uncomfortable furniture. 

I attempt to sleep on its hood, but the machine interprets my passive weight as a theft attempt. The cycle of "silence—movement—alarm" mirrors the psychological state of lockdown: a restless existence where any attempt to adjust one's position or regain agency is met with an immediate, screeching warning from the system.




Jingzhe 

2022 

Photography, giclee print 

15:9 

Dimensions variable
 Jingzhe (Awakening of Insects) is a traditional Chinese solar term marking the arrival of spring and the rousing of dormant life by thunder. In this work, I rely on the car's autonomous system to navigate the road and the vehicle’s motion to lift the kite, removing my own physical exertion from the equation. Performed on a closed road, this scene presents a "sterile awakening." It reflects a state of existence where movement is permitted but controlled, and the celebration of spring is confined within the sealed safety of a moving capsule—detached from the earth, yet tethered to the sky.




Piloting 

2022 

Single-channel video, color, sound 

01’11”
In Piloting, the act of navigation becomes an ironic gesture. 

Driving through a massive, empty tunnel—a symbol of connectivity severed by quarantine measures—I hold burning fireworks out the window. The title "Piloting" suggests guidance and forward momentum, yet in this context, the artist is guiding nothing but sparks into the darkness. The work serves as a metaphor for the pandemic experience: moving forward through a long, dark passage, creating one's own fleeting light to mark the passage of time in a suspended reality.




Charge 

2021 

Single-channel video, color, sound

00’23”


Charge is a brief yet intense metaphor for the collective exhaustion experienced during the pandemic. 

As the green light appears—symbolizing a return to movement or the lifting of lockdowns—I blow a charge horn continuously until my breath completely runs out. In an era defined by a respiratory virus and the struggle for air, this act of using one's lungs to the point of failure becomes a poignant symbol. It depicts the forced urgency to "restart" and "charge forward," even when the biological body is drained and gasping for breath.
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