Dashila’r Beijing
Location: Dashila’r hutong near Tian’anmen Square, Beijing, China
Date: June 6, 2012
Description: short performance with Li Lisha, paper, brushes, ink, watercolor, tape.
In Dashila’r Hutong just around the corner from Tian’anmen Square. Artist and curator Li Lisha and I grabbed a table at a soup place, ordered and started painting. We taped the penguins up to the front of an empty store front. We chose the store front because we mistakenly thought it was an underutilized art space. The timing, just two day after June 4th, made the performance tense and, perhaps, over loaded with associated meanings. Needless to say we kept it short (30-40 mins) and left before a crowd gathered.
The audience was passersby in this dense mixed residential and tourist hutong. They stopped and chatted with each other. I invited them to have a penguin. Most declined, but several took our photos. Someone was kind enough to snap a shot of both of us. I over heard an old man explaining the connection between penguins, climate change and industrial production.
