Project Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai
Black Box is a shipping container (12 X 3 X 4 meters). Among many meanings of “the liminal”, we take the sense of “inbetween the life and art”. There is no light inside the box for the reason that the arrangement opens more opportunities for alternative senses and modes of experience other than dominant vision.
During the exhibition period, there would be new performers and participants enact their works, interacting with the audience to put on live performances. The interaction and the feedback of the messages would be archived in time. These shows came from the variety of communities not only from art world but also other identities. There would be different modes of audience participation being explored with works that they could enter and quit the space, interact with the acts or just contemplate. Individuals would make there own meanings out of the scenes in the box, combined with the recognition of the their broader living milieu. Such acts generate certain live energy with the impact of the “darkness” in the box and the interactive presence of the audience.
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2012.12.8 Blackbox Project "Road"
I pasted braille alphabets on the inside wall of Black Box Lab. Before people went in, I would remind them that they should walk all this way through Black Box Lab according to the braille alphabets on the wall.
Script:
1.1. Passengers get on the diablo train, journey begins.
Voice-over: Dear passengers, welcome to diablo train, the train is about to start, please fasten the seat belt.
Background music: clank…clank…(train)
1. 5min past, stop at red light
Voice-over: the red light, please stop forward
Background music: rushing sound of cars
1. Green light, passengers cross the road, move on
Voice-over: noise from construction site, sound of knocking nails, machine sound from heavy industry, bricks falling sound.
1. Then goes by a grass land, blue sky, white cloud, birds twitters, and the scent of flowers assails the nostrils.
The passengers can only imagine those images through sound.
Journey ends.
This work tries to build some common life images in darkness, makes people feel the other side of darkness and also the sadness of blind word. Those sense organs which we can easily dominate in normal life become so hard in dark world. In the darkness we need more courage, trust, and imagination to “see” clearly and feel clearly!
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2012.12.11 Intonate in the Darkness-A Concert from Xu Haibei
I will give a concert in the Black Box Lab, most of which is my chanting with some other sound made by my instruments and materials. There is no any multimedia production in it, so it is purely so called “live hand made” concert. My audiences in the darkness will also enjoy the wonderful “feinted” concert which can’t be seen by anyone inside. Maybe there are partners perform with me, and I will be glad that if there are audiences who want to join us.
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2012.12.13 《Bite Off The Tongue of Myself》Second Act
《BITE OFF THE TONGUE OF MYSELF》
Parabola — Cultural Communication Studio
During the performance, there are two mobile phones hang on the ceiling of BlackBoxLab. People outside the spot can call those two phones to interact with people inside. When people get into the dark space, mobile phones begin to ring, which catches all the audiences attention. What will they do? Maybe part of them pick up the phone, part of them hesitate, wait and curious. In the end, what surprise me is that most of the audiences pick up our mobiles and make phone call through them.
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2012.12.15 Blackboxlab Project《Road》Second Act
Zheng Yuling is a older young woman who likes words, drawing, movie and music.
At the 13:30 today, the performance Road was been made a second time in our BlackBoxLab.
Brief introduction: at the opposite of bright world is the world of darkness, few people go there, maybe in the whole world there are 20% people are living there. Darkness is a dimension which is endless. You can’t catch anything inside even you are so eager to for the sake of security. For most people, they will never know that world from their first sight of light till now, and they also won’t experience how the others to resist fear in the dark world. This project is a opportunity to walk into the dark wold, to forget the bright world, and to be in a unknown world, a pure experience.
Take our diablo train, welcome to experience from heart!
I pasted braille alphabets on the inside wall of Black Box Lab. Before people went in, I would remind them that they should walk all this way through Black Box Lab according to the braille alphabets on the wall.
Script:
1. Passengers get on the diablo train, journey begins.
Voice-over: Dear passengers, welcome to diablo train, the train is about to start, please fasten the seat belt.
Background music: clank…clank…(train)
1. 5min past, stop at red light
Voice-over: the red light, please stop forward
Background music: rushing sound of cars
1. Green light, passengers cross the road, move on
Voice-over: noise from construction site, sound of knocking nails, machine sound from heavy industry, bricks falling sound.
1. Then goes by a grass land, blue sky, white cloud, birds twitters, and the scent of flowers assails the nostrils.
The passengers can only imagine those images through sound.
Journey ends.
This work tries to build some common life images in darkness, makes people feel the other side of darkness and also the sadness of blind word. Those sense organs which we can easily dominate in normal life become so hard in dark world. In the darkness we need more courage, trust, and imagination to “see” clearly and feel clearly!
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