We are pleased to announce that Gan Zhipeng has been selected as the artist for the second installment of the annual performance art project “A4 UPON Performance!” jointly initiated by the A4 Art Museum Documentation Center and the UP-ON Performance Art Archive. Gan Zhipeng will present his submitted performance work “Floating Theater” at A4 Art Museum in August and conduct residency sharing sessions. The third round of performance art proposals is now open for submissions.
Gan Zhipeng
Born in September 1996 in Pingliang, Gansu Province, he holds a master’s degree from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and currently lives and works in Chengdu, Sichuan. His practice spans painting, performance, theater, acting, and video, focusing on the contradictory relationship between the inner world and reality. He examines the predicament and survival state of the individual spirit within real-world dilemmas, as well as the powerlessness, absurdity, and theatricality experienced by individuals within their contextual realities. He seeks to extend an “uncertain value” within these “marginal crevices.” Influenced by Antonin Artaud’s concept of “Theatre of Cruelty,” he has recently dedicated himself to researching and exploring “theater,” “performance,” and “physicality.” He emphasizes the ritualistic nature of theater and the absurdity of mystical experiences, seeking to find the ‘intersection’ between performance and theatrical acting while pursuing “physicality.”
Recent Solo Exhibitions/Theater Projects/ Live Performance: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, Gan Zhipeng Solo Theater, Redprint Art Center, Chengdu, Sichuan, China, 2024; Departure, 4th Yibo Festival of Performance Art, Zhangzhou, Fujian, China, 2024; Parallel Lines Experimental Theater, 501 Art Base – Preface Space, Huangjueping, Chongqing, China, 2023; Novel: Performance Theater, FUN·Art Space, “Cycle”—International Live Performance Art Festival in the Clouds, 2023, Kunming, Yunnan, China; I Am a Good Person: “Trigger”—Zhou Bin Performance Art Graduation Exhibition, Luhu·A4 Art Museum, 2023, Chengdu, Sichuan, China; Heaven and Man as One, 17th “Guyu Action” International Performance Art Festival, 2023, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China; Untitled Performance Theater, HE·Base·Temporary Art Museum, 2022, Huangjueping, Chongqing, China.
《 Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow》
Experimental Theater Stills and Video Excerpts, 39’47“ (Excerpt 5’36”), Color & Sound, Chengdu, 2024
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow Experimental Theater is an expression about time and life, employing experimental theatrical methods. It integrates four distinct segments through character design, set construction, lighting and stage design, sound production, and audience interaction. Yesterday holds too many regrets and missed opportunities; today brings too much unease, helplessness, and anxiety; tomorrow is filled with too much unknown and uncertainty. All we can do is face it with composure and grace.
《 Ferryman》
Performance Video, HD, Color, 90’11”, Dunhuang, 2025
I purchased a live fish at the fish market in downtown Dunhuang. At the summit of the desert dunes at Mingsha Mountain, wearing a mask and with my face painted gold, I placed the fish in a glass aquarium and filled it with water—ensuring neither water overflowed nor the fish could escape. I then slowly walked through the desert. After one and a half hours, I finally located a water source and released the fish into the Danghe River canal.
《 Breathing》
Performance Video, HD, Color, 14’11”, Aba, 2024
Barefoot in a field of small mounds piled with stones and flour, he stands at each of the “East, South, West, North” positions, slaps himself once, and utters five words in sequence, completing a full circle back to his starting point; He then dug a pit in the mound with both hands, sat cross-legged inside, and slowly sprinkled flour over his head—first with his left hand, then his right, then both hands. Next, he wrapped black tape around his facial features and continued to emit loud sounds. As his voice became muffled and gradually dissipated, feelings of powerlessness, fragility, crying, and difficulty breathing followed one after another; Finally, remove the black tape and bury it in the mound. Strip off all clothing one by one, fold them neatly atop the mound, place a stone from the base on top of the clothes, ignite the gunpowder placed on the stone, and watch as smoke and fire slowly dissipate into the air.
《 Balance》
Performance Video, HD, Color, 5’42”, Chongqing, 2022
The corpse of a dead tree from a demolition site was completely excavated and transported to a crematorium for cremation. Its ashes were then returned to the original location for burial.
