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ZHANG Huan, <12 Square Meters>, Single channel video, 03'02", 1994 © artist
[China] ZHANG Huan 12 Square Meters
Zhang Huan who is known for conceptual performances and a member of the artists’ enclave at “Beijing East Village”. 12 Square Meters is the most literal reflection of living in East Village: 12 square meters marks the dimension of public toilet at the Beijing East Village. Zhang covered his body in fish oil and honey, sat at the center of the public toilet where the flies soon crawled over his entire body. In this process, Zhang tried to forget about reality, and allow his spirit to depart from his body. One hour later, he walked into a pond filled with trash and feces to “clean the body” as, thousands of flies followed him and swung above the water. The narrow public toilet and the relatively spacious water pond are metaphors for the dire circumstances and the living spaces of the artists. Of course, in spite of such circumstances, in order to live one nevertheless has to rely on his physical force and conscience to tolerate it. One’s spirit and physical body came in a tug of war, and in such conflict the complexity of the human condition becomes apparent. Lived and worked in New York for 8 years, Zhang concluded his performances, and founded an art studio in Shanghai in 2005, and uses leather, raw hide and the ashes from urban Buddhist temples to recreate these sculptures and figurations. |
