2020 Festival Review & Publication of Accounts｜The 8th UP-ON International Live Art Festival

The 8th UP-ON International Live Art Festival has concluded perfectly!
This is the result of the collective efforts of many like-minded individuals.
The 9th festival will seamlessly follow, so everyone can have a lie-in and then continue to write a new chapter!

-UP-ON Team

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Review

for the 8th UP-ON International Live Arts Festival

11/20- CHENGXIANG Wu Temple

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Artist: Liu DongDong (BEIJING)

Process:
The artist takes the stage barefoot and, using the strength of their body, throws steel needles at a mirror. In the continuous repetitive movement, some needles successfully penetrate the mirror, some break, and others bounce back onto the body.

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Artist: Chen MengXi (CHNEGDU)

Process: The artist slowly walked into the centre of the square, observing the crowd, tables, chairs, and the weather. Approaching a table with two chairs, they said, “A thousand years ago.” Standing for a moment in front of the table and chairs, they put on the flowing sleeves placed on the table. With the flowing sleeves, they walked, ran, and stood around the tables and chairs. Standing with the flowing sleeves behind a chair, they let the sleeves flutter between the two chairs, saying, “Make preparations before the rain,” and “Wielding a large knife.” They paused in the left rear corner of the square, waving the flowing sleeves and fragments of paper, saying, “I am a shell from the west,” and began tossing the flowing sleeves in all four directions. They overlapped the flowing sleeves, bowed to the crowd, saying, “Dignity.” Removing the flowing sleeves, they stood between the two chairs, saying, “A thousand years later.” Standing on the table, they said, “Negotiation.” They lifted the table and placed it at the front of the square, lifted one chair and walked towards the crowd on the right until someone was willing to sit down, casually pulling over a person standing nearby, inviting her to join them on stage. They then lifted the other chair and walked towards the crowd on the left, before sitting down themselves, greeting the person on the opposite chair, saying, “Looking across the sea.”

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Artist: Judy Lei (Macao)

Process: The artist walks into the crowd with a 12-meter-long white cloth draped over their shoulder, moving about among the audience and randomly bumping into some viewers. They invite the audience to participate by having the participants raise their hands to hold the white cloth tightly, while also spreading it out. The participants stand on either side of the cloth, and once it is fully extended, the artist begins to touch the participants on the opposite side through the cloth. The participants also touch and play with each other through the cloth. The artist then takes out a pair of scissors and cuts several large and small holes from one end of the cloth to the other. Every time a hole is made, either the artist or the participants will put their hands or heads through the holes to interact. The participants then twist the cloth together, wrapping the artist and nearby onlookers together. They continue to spin around, and as some people lose their balance, everyone helps to release the cloth, scattering and leaving it on the ground, marking the end of the piece.

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Artist: Eric Sott Belson (USA)

Process: In front of the Wu Temple, the artist invites the audience to collect fallen leaves from the surrounding grass and pile them up on the ground. He brings over a wheelbarrow full of leaves and forms a circle with them, sitting inside it. In the centre of the circle, he places a square tile and lights a candle, using a small wine glass as a candlestick. He picks up a leaf, ignites it, and after burning part of it, blows it out. He uses the ash from the leaf to rub on his head and face, slowly consuming one leaf after another. The piece lasts for 24 hours, with the artist’s head becoming increasingly black, the number of burnt candles growing, and the leaves around him diminishing.

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Artist: Yan ZhenTao (WUHAN)

Process: The artist and members of the collaborative art group collected discarded materials from the venue and nearby areas, including tiles, metal sheets, logs, wooden boards, withered plants, ladders, green mesh, and added their materials, such as speakers and skateboards. They entered an improvised state of action using these materials on site, randomly encountering and separating from each other. The actions included shaking tiles and swaying their bodies with the tiles, carrying the ladder, standing on logs to play the flute, two people lifting metal sheets to create sound, playing music, skating throughout the space on skateboards, sitting or lying on stone pillars, and gazing at the sky, among other activities.

Cooperation: FEICHUAN (Yan Zhentao, Zhang Yichen, Pan Chennong)

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Artist: Yan Ran (CHENGDU)

Process: The artist slowly approached the candelabrum placed in the centre of the Wumiao Square. Taking out a candle, they rubbed it on their lips, placed it on the candelabrum, and lit it. They began to blow on the candle without allowing it to go out. After a few minutes, they walked among the crowd with the candle, handing information slips to random members of the public. Then, they slowly returned the candle to its original place and continued to blow. The participants who received the slips, according to their own understanding, took turns blowing on the candle with the artist, until at one moment the candle suddenly extinguished.

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11/21- CHENGXIANG Original Steel File Factory

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Artist: Studio Lost Properties (Shanghai)

Process: The Lost Properties group conducted an on-site investigation of the abandoned steel file factory in the ancient town of Chengxiang. Using factory documents and architectural remnants from the steel file factory, they crushed them and filled dozens of square sandbags. A sandbag game was designed to take place in the ruins of the factory. On the day of the live creation, the two artists stood on either side of the factory, while a “host” invited the audience to enter the area between the two artists to participate in the sandbag game. Once some audience members entered, the artists started from their positions and began drawing squares on the ground with white powder. After completing the drawing, both switched places, standing on the two diagonals of the square, while about twenty people gradually entered the square. The artists began to throw sandbags at the participants, while the “host” started to read the game rules and repeatedly recited: “First: Those inside the square can avoid sandbags. If hit, please leave the square immediately. Second: Those inside the square are strictly prohibited from touching sandbags that have landed inside the square. If any form of contact occurs, please leave the square immediately. Third: Those inside the square may only grab sandbags that are in motion through the air. If a failed grab causes a sandbag to fall, please leave the square immediately. Contact with other body parts during the grab process requires you to leave the square immediately. Fourth: Those inside the square are only allowed to throw sandbags after successfully grabbing them by hand. No more than two sandbags can be held at the same time within the square; violators must leave immediately. Fifth: When music is playing, people outside the square may pick up sandbags that have fallen. Those inside the square must remain in their positions and cannot move; violators must leave immediately. Sixth: Those outside the square can choose to throw sandbags at people inside the square. Those hit by sandbags thrown by people inside the square may choose to return to the square.” Participants ran around inside the square, dodging sandbags, some leaving after being hit, while others picked up sandbags to throw at the artists outside the square. After the artists had thrown all the sandbags, the “host” stopped reading the rules and played the music “Coming Home.” The artists began to collect the scattered sandbags, and many audience members also started assisting in the recovery of the sandbags. After the recovery was completed, the “host” turned off the music and resumed reciting the rules, and the artists began throwing sandbags again at the participants who remained in the square. When the square was empty, the game ended.

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Artist: Mo NiJian (Chengdu)

Process: The artist set off from the steel file factory, walking through a commercial street to the archway at West Street. Along the way, they noticed several bricks missing from the street surface and took out red spray paint from their backpack to outline the edges of the gaps, creating a shape resembling the character “凸”. They went to the ironware store to buy a vegetable knife but found it was closed. After negotiating for a long time with the owner of a neighbouring shop, the owner finally helped to open the ironware store and sold a knife to the artist. Carrying the knife down the street, they passed by a security kiosk and used a zip tie they had with them to hang the knife on the electric pole next to the kiosk. They then bought a pair of white trainers at the shoe shop across from West Street, changed into the new shoes under the archway, leaving their old shoes there. They walked down the main path of West Street and back again, during which they noticed a doorknob missing from a large door. They fashioned a ring out of the bubble gum in their mouth to replace the missing handle. They spotted a fire alarm phone sign for number 119 and used red tape to change the “9” into an “8”. Returning to the archway at West Street, they switched back to their original shoes and signed the white trainers they had worn while walking through West Street, placing them on the stone pillar of the archway and announcing the completion of the piece. Throughout this process, a large group of spectators followed the artist, drawing the attention and discussion of many passers-by.

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Artist: Chen Keng (Hangzhou) with Wang XiangLi

Process: In a small alley on West Street, artist Wang Xiangli sits on a bamboo chair at the edge of the street, next to a porcelain basin placed on the ground. Starting from the ground beneath her feet, there is a line of ninety-nine white teacups leading the audience across the street, through a narrow alley, and into the garden behind the house, arriving at an old house where artist Chen Keng sits on another bamboo chair. He starts a fire using charcoal, picking up the charcoal with long chopsticks, and fanning the flames with a small fan, gradually getting the fire going. He boils water in a copper kettle to brew tea, pouring tea into each cup along the way. During this time, many audience members taste the tea. When the tea reaches the teacup at Wang Xiangli’s feet, she picks up the porcelain basin on the ground and pours the water from each teacup into the basin, walking all the way to the front of the old house. She sits down on the chair previously occupied by Chen Keng, takes off her shoes to soak her feet, and finally pours the water into the garden. Wang Xiangli walks back along the path to the street side, where the two artists converge, marking the end of the performance.

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Artist: Jiang KunJing & Jiang KunYin(Chengdu)

Process: The work involves two closely related individuals engaging together in a vast outdoor space. During the process, one person’s body becomes still, their gaze fixed in one direction. The other person then slowly begins to try various ways to move the stationary person towards the doorway. Throughout the movement, there are several falls. The two individuals each display their own states of motion and stillness, balance and imbalance, calmness and intensity, both internally and externally. In the end, the still person is the first to rise and leave through the main door.

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Artist: Zhen ZhiHai (Chengdu)

Process: In front of the main hall of the martial temple, the artist prepared three vats of white alcohol (with blue food colouring added) and invited the audience dressed in dark clothing to participate in the creation. The artist asked the participants to stand in three rows and handed each person a hose connected to the alcohol vat. The artist also held a hose and told the audience: “A little later, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Symphony No. 6: Pathetique’ will be played. I hope you can immerse yourselves in the music and experience the changes that alcohol brings to your bodies and emotions. You can close your eyes or move your bodies as you feel, and I hope you all enjoy this process.” As the music began, the artist conducted with a baton while drinking alongside the participants. The music lasted a total of 45 minutes, and the artist gradually entered a state of inebriation. Some participants were very immersed, while others stepped down partway through, and new audience members joined in. The participants spontaneously swayed their bodies, and the formation went from orderly to chaotic, with the number of participants gradually decreasing.

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Artist: Bill Aitchison (UK)

Process: As night fell, the performance took place in a rundown, abandoned house on West Street. The artist, covered in red paint, lay on a sheet of white paper. The audience stood by the walls and at the door, using their phones to shine light on him, while the sound of his breathing could be heard through the microphone. The artist attempted to stand up but kept falling onto the paper and the dirty floor. Eventually, he pulled himself up with a wooden stool and propped himself up against the wall with his arm. In the end, he leaned against the brick wall and walked to the door, leaving the room.

 

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11/23-TUFF CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM

 

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Artist: FEICHUAN ( Yan ZhenTao & Pan NongChen)

Process: On the rooftop of the TUFF Contemporary Art Museum, a crowd of spectators gathered as artists Yan Zhentao and Pan Chennong began to create spontaneously on opposite sides of the crowd. Several invited audience members also participated in the creation at random intervals, while group member Zhang Yichen joined the process via video link. The materials they used included: lotus tops, brooms, stones, bubble wands, watering cans, festival programmes, cups, on-site tables and chairs, mobile phones, cigarettes, and more. Throughout, the two artists communicated through sounds such as coughing, whistling, and tapping on materials as they separated. Artists or audience members threw stones, paper airplanes, paper balls, and bubbles from one side of the rooftop to the other, connecting two spaces that were separated by people. The two artists occasionally separated, then came together again, taking short breaks at times, while the audience’s attention constantly shifted between the two artists and other creators.

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Artist: Hei Yue|Ji ShenLi (Shanghai)

Process: The artist lights one match after another, bringing it to eye level, and when the flame gradually reaches the end of the match, they let it go, allowing the match to fall to the ground naturally, then they light the second one… Simultaneously, a projection on the wall displays the footage of the artist lighting the matches, and at certain moments, the artist’s actions coincide with those in the video.

 

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11/24- LUXELAKE A4 ART MUSEUM

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Artist: HongWei (Beijing)

Process: The artist was dressed entirely in white summer attire, carrying only a white backpack, a thermos, a box containing four pairs of underwear, a marker, a mobile phone, and a charging cable. He arrived in Chengdu on the evening of November 16 and began his creative process. Throughout, he was looking for ways to catch a cold. On his backpack, he had handwritten a slogan: “Reward 300 yuan! Who has a way to catch just a cold?” and invited those he met to suggest methods for him to achieve this. To deliberately catch a cold, he tried various methods, such as sleeping outdoors, soaking in a canal, taking cold showers, eating ice cream at dawn, and going to a medical clinic to have someone with a cold sneeze at him. He also determined whether he had a cold by visiting the hospital daily for check-ups and medication, but he appeared to show no obvious symptoms of a cold. On the eighth day, at a lakeside platform outside the A4 Art Museum in Luhu, the artist held a press conference about his creative concept. A television screen displayed looping footage of his attempts to catch a cold in Chengdu each day. He invited the audience to brainstorm ways to catch a cold with him and to discuss the issue. After soaking his head in water, he held a microphone to explain the rationale behind his work, as well as his feelings and experiences during the execution process. He pulled out documents collected since arriving in Chengdu from his backpack, including registration slips from the hospital, prescriptions, medication provided by doctors, train tickets, ice cream containers, plastic bottles, and diaries. The documents were suspended on a rubber band, one end of which was secured to the television stand. The artist covered his head with the backpack, holding the other end of the rubber band, and turned in circles around the television, wrapping the materials around the stand. Several times he walked to the edge of the platform, nearly falling off while continuing to speak, with the microphone picking up heavy breathing and trembling sounds. The artist removed the backpack to introduce the documents and the writings on the backpack, ultimately wrapping himself in the materials on the television stand.

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Artist: Li Rui (Chengdu)

Process:

• 1/The Artist stands naked from the waist up, wearing a transparent raincoat, and holding two black buckets. After standing still for a moment, the Artist sets down the black buckets, removes the raincoat, and spreads it on the floor.
• 2/The Artist lifts one of the black buckets to the front, reaches both hands into the soft plaster inside, and takes out their hands. While waiting for the plaster to dry, the Artist raises their right hand and slowly moves it from left to right.
• 3/ The Artist claps their hands faster until the plaster falls off and splashes.
• 4/The Artist slowly raises the other black bucket above their head and pours the slurry from the bucket over their head, standing still as the slurry covers their body.
• 5/The Artist walks towards the audience, pulling two lines from their mouth to two audience members, then slowly retreats until the lines reach their ends, dropping two glowing spheres that emit light.
• 6/The Artist quickly drinks two cans of soda, burps, and writes the letters “c” and “e” on the wall with the slurry, inviting the audience to drink soda, burp, and write until the letters form “centre.”
• 7/Holding a can of deodorant, the Artist swiftly walks into the audience, sprays themselves with it, and then leaves, marking the end of the performance.

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Artist: Dai GuangYu (Chengdu)

Process: In the centre of the small theatre, a square has been outlined on the ground with flour. A boy and a girl wearing red scarves are sitting on a bench behind the square, each holding a bag of sweets and eating one by one. The artist steps beside the flour and gradually shapes it into the character for “eat” using a brush and a shovel. Meanwhile, the two “Young Pioneers” are throwing sweets at the “eat” character while continuing to eat their sweets.

 

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