I'm sorry, my English is no good. So I have
a translator help me. Good evening everybody.
This work is "Watching the River" and it is
in the exhibition. It was done in 1995.
This work deals with the environmental problems
caused by the rapid development in China.
That ice block you see is actually water from
a polluted river. She had factory workers
take the water to a factory to turn it into
ice. Bring it back to the river bank stacked
into this cube and had passersby wash the
ice with fresh water for two days.
By bringing the water from the river and freezing
it and putting it on the banks, it's to reintroduce
people to water and the problems caused by
pollution.
This is also another earlier work, "Cauldron
City".
This deals with, also the development of the
cities and what happens to the older parts
of the cities next to the new buildings.
Perhaps people might be aware of in Beijing,
the older buildings are being cleared to make
way for skyscrapers and high rises like in
New York and Shanghai because people like
that style of development.
This work also reflects her concerns about
what is happening to the older traditional
parts of the city- the alleyways and the traditional
housing formats.
The rooftops that you see are gathered from
construction sites from where buildings have
been torn down and the furniture is what people
have left in the streets because they were
moving.
This is Beijing Opera from 2001.
She recorded a lot of old people on the streets
of Beijing singing Beijing opera. They are
not professionals, they're just singing for
the fun of it.
Most of them are retired and they're living
life with more leisure.
It use to be when you greeted acquaintances
in the street you would ask, "Where are you
eating today?" But now people are so busy
that they just ask, "What are you busy with
today?"
For example, when we go to exhibitions we
might just rush through and not look at each
piece carefully because we're pressed for
time and we want to see the whole thing.
This is installed in a gallery space. While
people are going through looking at other
works, they can come in here and take a break,
sit down and listen to the sounds of the opera
singers that she recorded. So this is another...
International flight, 2002.
She has several works that uses second hand
clothing as a major component.
She feels that clothing is a second skin.
And it
captures a lot of their experience and background.
When this exhibition or these works, stop
at a country, she adds clothing from people
in that location onto the frame.
Right now, these works have clothing from
five different countries.
This work also uses youth clothing, it's weapons.
These are television towers made to look like
television towers with knives attached at
the point. So if something beautiful can also
be very dangerous.
This is a series of portable cities that's
also made with used clothing.
This is New York.
This was made with clothing from New Yorkers.
There is also an audio component of sounds
recorded in the city. And in the center there's
a magnifying class and you can look through
to see a map of New York.
And she has made so far, 17 cities.
New York.
Shanghai.
Singapore.
This is "Where is the Bridge" from 2005.
This is made also with used clothing and also
some other daily use items like stainless
steel plates and kitchen wares.
And the blood is made with
the carpet.
She feels that the motorcycle is a very personal
mode of transportation.
But she has made it really big.
The clothing that's on the piece is from many
different people.
It shows the people as a group.
It's saying, it's
not that people don't want to stop, it's they
don't know how. They don't know there their
brake is. This was for an Asian exhibition.
It was an exhibition in Asia.
It's also dealing with rapid development
in Asia. People are concerned with money,
materialism, and there are problems with the
environment
and food products.
Thanks for your time.
Thank you.
