In 1999 Liang Shaoji made a video of himself walking barefoot on metal shavings, because he wanted to feel what the silkworms felt as they were crawling over them. (In 1992 Liang started to research how to make silkworms weave on metal shavings). He got a full truckload of shavings and spread them in the factory’s courtyard. The factory workers were his public.
Liang: “I didn’t expect it to be so incredibly painful. The smaller the shavings, the more painful they were. There was no way out, no way to escape the pain except to go forward until I reached the end of the courtyard. I had to go to the hospital afterwards. During that performance I felt like any human being in distress who has no way to give up or to get out of the situation he is in, and still you have to go on living ...”
Preview Online No.24
Preview Online No.25
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