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A sense of thrust by exerting one\u2019s full strength, followed by physical depletion, runs through Tang Dixin\u2019s performance art. His solo exhibition \u201cMr. Hungry\u201d at AIKE\u2010DELLARCO in Shanghai is composed of a performance art piece at the opening ceremony, as well as the traces left behind and video installations. The series of videos record Tang Dixin\u2019s climbing in interior spaces in which he \u201cintentionally avoids any conventional route\u201d (to quote the press release of \u201cMr. Hungry\u201d); fridges, cabinets, air-conditioners and sofas\u2014which surround him in the living space\u2014are used as landing and supporting points for climbing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now reflect on \u201cintentionally avoids any conventional route\u201d for a moment. Have you had the experience of getting lost in today\u2019s shopping malls? Or looked for a restroom or subway station amid a myriad of shops and packaging? To find a specific shop would be even harder. A shop is a special example. Unlike a riverside green belt with sidewalks or a giant supermarket with escalators winding up and down, a shop has a designated route buried in a dazzling maze. The purpose of this maze seems precisely to conceal the entrance. Tang Dixin climbs around the interior space, but not to find an exit or reach a specific destination; his purposelessness intends to remind us of the absurdity and futility of our routine courses of action and trajectories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The videos are recorded with an overhead camera worn on Tang\u2019s head, capturing the original recording of his climb with little editing. The view through this first-person perspective has a strong sense of motion due to constant movement. While watching these videos, viewers can perhaps easily insert themselves into the trajectory of the climb. Light but audible breathing conveys not the type of eager anticipation or readiness exuded by felines seeking out their prey, but rather a relaxed, playful mood. The posture of moving with both hands and feet does not interfere with walking. While its support of our body weight enables us to walk upright, our spinal cord needs to be extended regularly; many stretching exercises extend or curl the spinal cord while we are in a crawling position. Through crawling and recording with first-person perspective, Tang Dixin seems to have found a trajectory to rediscover indoor spaces, while this trajectory is also used in his opening performance piece. Nevertheless, such recording with a first-person perspective appears to have greater significance for the process of behavior itself than as the object being seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tang Dixin, sporting a pair of skis and holding ice picks, climbs up the wall, swaying, while holding onto a red wooden door. The blades at the front of the skis needed to be forcefully inserted into the concrete wall with wood frames; but getting the blades out of the walls where they were stuck wasn\u2019t as easy as extracting them from ice would be, and required significantly more strength than inserting them. Having grown up in the mountains of Fuyang, Hangzhou, Tang Dixin is adroit at climbing hills, trees and bamboo, but never received any training in rock climbing. He only tried it out once on a wall before the performance. Therefore, he was uncertain about how the actual performance would turn out. It is precisely such an uninsured, unpredictable, raw circumstance that injects intense anxiety about danger into the mind of the viewers. There is a mix of anxiety and excitement in the viewers\u2019 attentive gazes, and the performance artist undertaking persistent yet arduous climbing that a heightened tension revolving around the dichotomy between seeing and being seen was formed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tang Dixin wore the camera throughout. Nevertheless, as he was primarily facing the walls and moving horizontally, what the camera captured was almost invariably white walls along with the anxious, nervous faces of onsite viewers recorded when the artist occasionally lowered his head to look at them. Tang Dixin intentionally climbed up to the ceiling, forcing them to look up as he moved atop the four-meter-tall walls. The television sets mounted on the walls became the support for the artist\u2019s occasional rests. His thigh muscles (propelling the skis) drew grey arcs on the walls with gradually-decreasing vitality. The attacks from the ski blades and ice picks left lines of bruises on the walls. One ski fell off, followed by an ice pick. Tang Dixin then threw off all the equipment and climbed with his bare hands. The performance art piece, lasting for half an hour, concluded with the artist jumping down successfully at the entrance of the gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even without any prior knowledge of the opening performance, viewers who stepped into the gallery were still startled\u2014one can tell from their gazing upon the brutal traces of wounds on the walls. The unmistakable occurrence of \u201csomeone having climbed the walls\u201d can be reenacted endlessly in viewers\u2019 imaginations. It can be said that spaces, post-human-behavior, effectively retain and manifest the tension present at the moment of the performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Climbing walls inevitably reminds one of the ongoing \u201cDrawing Restraint\u201d series started by Matthew Barney in 1987, in which \u201crestraints are employed as a condition for development as well as an instrument for creativity\u201d, and scenes of performance art practice featuring artists tied to bungee cords, forcefully twisting and climbing while drawing on the walls\u2014several of these recorded the process in videos which in turn became artistic works. The differences between actions, performances and art works in Tang Dixin\u2019s practice, however, are rather murky\u2014or, they can be seen as aiming to compose a fully integrated whole. Barney\u2019s work is a direct expression of how restraints relate to creation; Tang, however, has never regarded his performance in terms of restraint, as there is no object of restraint\u2014if it has to be identified, this will depend more or less on the artist himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those who are familiar with Tang Dixin\u2019s art works may still take delight in talking about the incident of him lying on the subway tracks. That incident, in 2010, was entitled \u201cAct of God.\u201d Looking up at the climbing Tang Dixin while standing in the gallery space may invoke quite a different state of mind than watching on Youku a self-recorded segment of him lying on the subway tracks. I wonder if both states of mind contain a certain indescribable sense of admiration\u2014indescribable because few onlookers are able or dare to jump onto the stage to perform (although such a phenomenon is becoming more commonplace nowadays, and is even encouraged). Tang Dixin has never denied that his performances are staged for others to see, and that he hopes those who see him perform will have some response\u2014be it a quiet, slight change of facial expression or verbose feedback. That\u2019s not for the visibility of response, but for a sense of sympathy and compassion after throwing something to the sky. Before making the \u201cAct of God\u201d incident happen, Tang Dixin conducted thorough investigations, visiting many subway stations in Shanghai and assessing the duration for which trains stop at each station, before eventually selecting a platform of \u201cguaranteed\u201d security. He was by no means planning his own \u201caccidental\u201d death, or aiming to make himself an \u201cinternet celebrity\u201d; rather, he was staging a performance art piece. Following the incident, the police detained Tang Dixin for ten days before releasing him. For him to jump resolutely down onto the tracks and lie there enduring the enormous pressure, speed and the sound of the train braking, and then jump back onto the platform\u2014amid all his determination, what crossed his mind? It was action: survival!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Such \u201cextreme\u201d behavior is highly susceptible to moral judgment. Take Tang\u2019s performance \u201cFly\u201d in 2009 as an example. Tang Dixin and several other young people jumped off a second story patio (with friends catching them in blankets below); this drew the disapproval of an older female resident nearby. The lady tried loudly to dissuade Tang Dixin and his group from \u201cwasting their lives in their prime of youth.\u201d Unlike others who jumped in an almost upright position, Tang Dixin\u2019s pose closely resembled that of Yves Klein in his performance \u201cLe Saut dans le Vide\u201d on Rue Gentil-Bernar in the Fontenay-aux-Roses neighborhood of France in October 1960\u2014jumping off a building like a bird spreading its wings and with his head high as if he were flying. With gravity being impossible to escape, Tang reportedly suffered hand and elbow fractures; but he jumped twice nevertheless. This performance piece was replayed in the program \u201cRetrospective\u201d curated by Biljana Ciric in 2010, in which Tang Dixin fell to the ground in an upright position multiple times. When he invited onsite viewers to get onto the stage and interact with him, a girl came up to him and shoved him to the ground with one powerful thrust. He later recalled, \u201cI was psychologically prepared for the preceding falls, with a conscious intention to control my body; but to be pushed down like that was totally unexpected, so I tried to protect myself with my hand, reflexively. Apparently, I couldn\u2019t really fully control that. I was somewhat disoriented at the time of the fall, thinking I was able to stand up, but my legs failed me. Eventually, I managed to stand up only after several attempts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The above-mentioned performance art pieces are apparently all scenarios of \u201cpersonally testing the limit of risks,\u201d with Tang Dixin placing his body in dangerous circumstances. As someone acting out his artistic vision, his courage and behavior, personally testing the limits of danger while seemingly automatically separating out his viewers, can also be taken as an encouraging call or beckoning. It\u2019s a beckoning not to imitation, but for a customary alert towards the point of departure for such dangerous activities. \u201cIn the performance art piece \u201cI will be back Soon\u201d in 2008, the viewers were asked to throw soaked toilet paper against any random surface, such as the walls, ceiling, beams and floor, and I was then to retrieve the toilet paper as fast as possible, through different means, but only with instruments available on site. Different viewers posed different levels of difficulty for me, and the performance lasted for about two hours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The images of self-abuse created by performance artists have a way of seeping deep into our consciousness. From Zhang Huan\u2019s early performance piece \u201c12 Square Meters\u201d (in 1994, seated in a public latrine covered in fish sauce and honey which attracted flies to crawl all over his body, lasting for one hour) to He Yunchang\u2019s performance piece \u201cOne Rib\u201d (in 2008, having one rib removed by accepting a medically-unnecessary operation), the tension between individuals and society is alluded to more or less through the artists\u2019 endurance of pain (and various discomforts) and the exploration of their limits in enduring pain while employing their bodies as the medium. However, Tang Dixin\u2019s original intention is not a similar attempt to \u201ctest his own limits of endurance\u201d, but instead to combine his individual practice with public motivation; this is most evident in his performance works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n With viewers\u2019 participation in mind, Tang Dixin broadened his invitation to them. In his work \u201cRest is the Best Way of Revolution, 2012-2013\u201d, where walls were inscribed with fonts emblematic of the 1980s and painted in red and green, Tang Dixin, in a doctor\u2019s white gown, dressed the most used body parts of individual viewers in order to let them \u201crest up\u201d. When they left, almost all of the viewers were wearing white plaster casts. This was a response to seemingly endless human rush and bustle with a posture of rest and non-action. This approach of dressing \u201cthe wound\u201d is obviously a lot more genteel than that of Zhao Zhao, who used a knife to stab Sun Yuan, a volunteer he recruited. This \u201cbig character poster\u201d type of aesthetics was also used for Tang\u2019s performance piece \u201cI Must See a Rainy Day Today\u201d (2012). In contrast with \u201cRain Room\u201d by Random International, Tang Dixin\u2019s self-made backpack showerhead allowed him to be rained on constantly on the day of performance. With both hands in his trouser pockets, he closed his eyes, readily receiving the water flowing down his body, and showing no sign of obstruction to his breathing. The audience was prompted to grin with amusement, only to realize that while smiling, they were also experiencing a vague itch which they couldn\u2019t scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This may not be an appropriate metaphor: but if Tang Dixin\u2019s performance art works are stars, then his paintings would represent a vacuum, or perhaps a sense of time, which might be more fitting. His paintings more often than not have a grey-blue tone. He has said that often, if a painting doesn\u2019t turn out well, he will scratch it out and repaint it so that there may be another painting beneath each painting. This grey-blue hue corresponds with his typical facial expression\u2014a casual smile lurking at the corners of his mouth, yet with a certain quiet sorrow in his eyes. Derek Jarman writes in his Blue<\/em>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n You say to the boy open your eyes<\/em> The smoke, clouds, fog and water often appearing in the paintings bear solid weight. In cityscapes (buildings, streets, lamps), clothed or unclothed human portraits, body parts, animals, or cartoonish scenes featuring items like a cigarette-butt-clutching fire extinguisher, and even such \u201cevil paintings\u201d as \u201cCome on Genghis Khan\u201d (2013), vague surrealist imaginations and intentional manifestation of the reality behind them permeate. As a young man from the countryside now living in the city, frequent returns to his village ignite many childhood memories about a much-changed place, as well as sentiments towards the village that well up in his acceptance of transformation. The appeal of the countryside stems from its rustic charm, its tall mountains, its streams and trees, its rugged terrain and indomitable fortitude and sweet-smelling chickens that are free to stroll around. The urban space is created for human beings, yet it loses humanity\u2019s authentic dimension; besides, it gradually erects habitual tall walls, blocking the scenery and paths through. This sense of isolation is perhaps an alternative composition of that sorrow detected in the paintings. The definition of reality itself, since the outset of modernism, has undergone countless changes. The more blurry the boundary between perception and reality becomes, the more easily this blurriness can be incorporated into reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These paintings, along with these performance art works, are all by Tang Dixin; they all possess a certain tension stemming from calmness, as well as a certain gentleness born from loneliness. Paintings and performance art appear to exist in parallel, without overlap. But there do exist such paintings as \u201cOn the lake\u201d(2013), which originates from his own performance work \u201cFloating\u201d(2009). Tang Dixin is lying in a bathtub floating at the center of a lake. The work is entitled \u201cCrooked Times\u201d (2014) as the bathtub, the tree, man automobile, and shadow are slanted. The setting sun appears to be burning the sky red; as the shadows darken, the power of the sun recedes, exhibiting anomalous gravity. Should he fall in that painting, he would not fall onto a \u201cground\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born in Hangzhou in 1982, Tang Dixin graduated from the Department of Oil Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts at Shanghai Normal University. He lives and works in Shanghai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cItching All Over\u201d: the four characters … Continue reading <\/a>
\u300a\u9965\u997f\u5148\u751f\u300b\uff0c\u5c55\u89c8\u73b0\u573a\uff0c\u4e0a\u6d77\u827e\u53ef\u753b\u5eca\uff0c 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u300a\u9965\u997f\u5148\u751f\u300b\uff0c\u5c55\u89c8\u73b0\u573a\uff0c\u4e0a\u6d77\u827e\u53ef\u753b\u5eca\uff0c 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u5510\u72c4\u946b\uff0c\u300a\u4f11\u606f\u662f\u6700\u597d\u7684\u9769\u547d\u300b\uff0c\u884c\u4e3a\uff0c2012\u20132013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a>
\u5510\u72c4\u946b\uff0c\u300a\u4f11\u606f\u662f\u6700\u597d\u7684\u9769\u547d\u300b\uff0c\u884c\u4e3a\uff0c2012\u20132013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
When he opens his eyes and sees the light<\/em>
You make him cry out. Saying<\/em>
O Blue come forth<\/em>
O Blue arise<\/em>
O Blue ascend<\/em>
O Blue come in\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a>
\u5510\u72c4\u946b\uff0c\u300a\u6210\u5409\u601d\u6c57\u52a0\u6cb9\u300b\uff0c\u5e03\u9762\u6cb9\u753b\uff0c50 x 40 cm\uff0c2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u5510\u72c4\u946b \uff0c\u300a \u7981\u95ed\u300b\uff0c\u5e03\u9762\u6cb9\u753b\uff0c60 x 50 cm\uff0c2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u5510\u72c4\u946b\uff0c\u300a\u7c7b\u4eba\u300b\uff0c\u5e03\u9762\u6cb9\u753b\uff0c80 x 80 cm\uff0c2013<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u5510\u72c4\u946b\uff0c\u300a\u4e09\u56fd\u300b\uff0c\u5e03\u9762\u6cb9\u753b\uff0c180 x 130 cm\uff0c 2008<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u5510\u72c4\u946b\uff0c\u300a\u80cc\u5305\u300b\uff0c\u7efc\u5408\u6750\u6599\uff0c200 x 146 cm\uff0c2012<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\u5510\u72c4\u946b\uff0c\u300a\u7b49\u5f85\u300b\uff0c\u5e03\u9762\u6cb9\u753b\uff0c50 x 50 cm\uff0c2010<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"