Night Routine (2022)
This is a 5-minute video clip with no sound that was shot in a single take at Burgess Park, London.
By having the subject perform a daily task in an open setting, the artist seeks to address the relationship between performance and public places. Brushing teeth and washing one's face are routines that almost everyone does on a daily basis, which prompting the question, "What difference does it make to do it outside?” Viewers are also encouraged to concentrate more on the picture itself, as there is no audio track backing this video. For example, the subject in the video did not use real water to wash her face; she also did not remove her socks when having foot wash. The artist purposefully directed it this way to add certain absurdity to the piece, as well as to gently blur the line between performing and practising. An interesting thing to notice in this video work is the ‘foot wash’. Most Londoners do not have this practise, which is actually a southern Chinese habit. Because there is no of heating in southern China during the winter, residents choose to wash their feet instead of having a bath. Ideally, the work will be presented as a real-life size and be placed back in public areas like parks, gardens or streets.
This work is primarily influenced by Dadaist values, which rethinking the relationships between art and the general public in order to provide further reflections on the idea of collectivity.
By having the subject perform a daily task in an open setting, the artist seeks to address the relationship between performance and public places. Brushing teeth and washing one's face are routines that almost everyone does on a daily basis, which prompting the question, "What difference does it make to do it outside?” Viewers are also encouraged to concentrate more on the picture itself, as there is no audio track backing this video. For example, the subject in the video did not use real water to wash her face; she also did not remove her socks when having foot wash. The artist purposefully directed it this way to add certain absurdity to the piece, as well as to gently blur the line between performing and practising. An interesting thing to notice in this video work is the ‘foot wash’. Most Londoners do not have this practise, which is actually a southern Chinese habit. Because there is no of heating in southern China during the winter, residents choose to wash their feet instead of having a bath. Ideally, the work will be presented as a real-life size and be placed back in public areas like parks, gardens or streets.
This work is primarily influenced by Dadaist values, which rethinking the relationships between art and the general public in order to provide further reflections on the idea of collectivity.