I am your anti-matter

Li-E Chen

li - e Chen

Copyright

HTTP://WWW.LIECHEN.COM

HTTP://CLOUDCLOCKLOVE.WORDPRESS.COM

2012 Li-E Chen; individual contributions 2012 the contributors. individual participants 2012 the participants. All Right Reserved. Series name: 1212360
D ANIEL P ITT - C LOUD C LOCK L OVE - R OOF S TUDIO , SIOBHAN DAVIES STUDIOS

Special thanks to
The Arts Council England, Rob Prouse and the Siobhan Davies Studios, Movana Chen (Artist/Curator), Sarah Ng, Sally Dean (Sally E. Dean Performing Arts Company), Improbables Devoted & Disgruntled Satellite and Open Space communities, Phelim McDermott (Co-Artistic Director of Improbable), Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester (Whisper Artist Residency and Professional Artist Development scheme), the fellow summer Creative Space artists/dancers and Caroline Salem (Director of the Creative Space@Clarence Mews), Hamish Macpherson, Manick Govinda (Artsadmin), Young Vic Theatre (the Young Vic Directors Programme), National Theatre, Royal Opera House, BAC and Cultural Leadership programme (The Step Change leadership programme), Leona Yu, Live Arts Development Agency, Nicholas Wood (the Central School of Speed and Drama), Professor Johnny Golding (the Research Institute for the Converging Arts & Sciences, University of Greenwich), Manu Luksch, Indigo J L, Guy Dartnell, Dr Nathan Widder (Royal Holloway University of London), Bean (director of ]performance s p a c e [, Victoria Gray, Ying-Mei Duan, Aoife Collins, Will Fung, and all the participants (co-creators) and contributors to the project Cloud Clock Love.

C LOUD C LOCK L OVE , R OOF S TUDIO ,

SIOBHAN DAVIES STUDIOS , LONDON , UK ,

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2011

ii

Credits
CLOUD CLOCK LOVE I Am Your Anti-matter Conceived, curated, designed, and produced by Li-E Chen

Foreword written by Dr Nathan Widder

Ebook contributions by Ying Mei Duan Victoria gray Bean Will Fung Indigo J L Aoife Collins

Mentored by Sally Dean

D AVID T SE -K A -S HING - C LOUD C LOCK L OVE - R OOF S TUDIO , SIOBHAN DAVIES STUDIOS

I am your anti-matter (limited edition t-shirts) by Li-E Chen (with the assistance of Sarah Ng)

Hannah Lammin David Marchant John Hill Nathan Widder Victoria Gray

Project assisted by Bean Nathan Widder Sarah Ng David Marchant John Stewart John Hill Movana Chen

Bean Li-E Chen

Live Documentation by Victoria Gray & Bean

Durational Live Writing online by Victoria Gray @ACTIONOTHING Bean @aplaceofaction curated by Li-E Chen @1212360

Participants (Co-creators) James Hodgson Ivor Houker Sophie Morgan Annette Fry Dean Soden Folveog Eva Daniel Pitt Qing Qi Those who participated online during the lab through the Cloud Clock Love blog. Those who took part in take-no-action during the DandD7 event, an open invitation from Improbable, 25-27 February 2012 Those who have helped disseminate the artwork by wearing the I am your antimatter t-shirts limited edition 2011 - 2012 Others who participated in the project include Melody S. Sacco David Tse-Ka-Shing Solveig Eva Magnusdottir Sebastien Han_Walker Apryl Pipe Tim Cullingford Sim Lai Sally Dean Paul Whitlock Soren Evinson Live Streaming of the second day of the lab was arranged by James Hodgson Ivor Houker

Softwares Advisers for digital publishing Kaying Cheng Andrew Whitehead

Photo Cloud Clock Love Laboratory Photo by Nathan Widder Ying Mei Duan (Chapter 4 page 41-42) Photo by Melati Suryodamo

Multimedia Video Intro Media (page 0) I am your anti-matter shot by Li-E Chen (2012) Interactive Map (Chapter 2 page 14) Open Space by Li- E Chen Video (Chapter 2 page 18) Clock Clock Love Durational Lab on Nothingshot by Nathan Widder, edited by Bean (2011) Blank pages (Chapter 5 page 68 - page 77) Nothing by Li-E Chen Video (Chapter 5 page 83) Untitled shot by Li-E Chen (2011) Sound (Chapter 7 page 101) Downward social mobility by Aoife Collins Film (Chapter 9 page 112) Dragon Coconut and the Monster Rabbit by Indigo J L

Supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council England.

L I -E C HEN - A S TRUCTURE

OF

ON

N OTHING (2011)

I am your anti-matter is part of a research and development project, CLOUD CLOCK LOVE, an exploration of a new
understanding of nothing created by Li-E Chen and supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council England.

This work on Nothing emerged over several years out from Chens diverse experiences and projects, including: a short residency programme at the Chinese Arts Centre in Manchester (UK) in 2009; participation in the Step Change leadership training programme, which included secondments at the Improbable, and the Live Art Development Agency; and ongoing engagements with the works of Robert Wilson, Techching Hsieh, Merce Cunningham, Tadeusz Kantor, John Cage, Harold Pinter, and Improbable (including Chens participation in its Devoted and Disgruntled Satellite and Open Space events).

C LOUD C LOCK L OVE , R OOF S TUDIO ,

SIOBHAN DAVIES STUDIOS , LONDON , UK ,

3-4

SEPTEMBER

2011

Foreword

Nothing is frequently treated as an absence or deciency. To say, nothing is in the room indicates that it is empty; to say nothing has happened means there has been no change, be it developmental change or decay; to say you mean nothing to me communicates that I take you to be of little or no worth. Yet these everyday uses and meanings are not as straightforward as they may seem. To say nothing is here grants this nothing some existence or being. If nothing seems to have happened, it speaks more to the limitations of our perceptions than it does to our perceived reality. And you must have meant something to me, or I wouldnt have wasted the time and energy to tell you that you didnt.

From seminal works of philosophy to everyday life, nothing has been considered in ways that allow it to be an object of representation, something that can be comprehended and known with relative ease. We make things easy in this regard by setting nothing against its opposite, taking this opposite to be a thing of worth. What we represent to ourselves and others is a matter of things, even if this is the representation of the opposite of a thing, a no-thing.

But we need not think along these terms. We might instead press beyond the limitations of this representative thought by treating nothing not as a representation of a no-thing, but as a name given to that which can be presented but never re-presented, precisely because it is not and cannot be made into a (representable) thing. In the terms on which this thinking proceeds, nothing is what can be cognized but never re-cognized, meaning it also cannot be conceptualized, remembered or organized in relation to other objects and things. We would be able to experience this nothing in any number of ways. But we would never be able nally to grasp it.

sought to bring about conditions under which something creative could come to participants in this sort of way. In a space constructed with the minimum of rules, and with no more than suggestions for starting points, participants were invited simply to take what was there and to do or make something with it, independently or collaboratively and in accordance with what felt right to them at the time. It was an extremely simple arrangement, but one that was all the more powerful insofar as it cut against the pressures we all face in daily life to follow plans and achieve predetermined goals. These are the very pressures that encourage us to see an absence of something when that structure of goals and purposes is removed. In removing those pressures, Cloud Clock Love hoped to create an environment in which a different kind of nothing could

Such a nothing may seem to be meaningless, but even if it cannot have an everyday meaning, it would be wrong to think that it could not have a sense. Or, perhaps better, while it may have no sense itself, while it may only be nonsense, it might still play a role in allowing us to make sense of the things that are normally the objects of our thinking, the things in whose absence we speak of nothing. Considered in this way, nothing would at bottom be a foundation for creativity, insofar as creativity is taken to be more than putting together or manufacturing an object based on a prior representation (a model, an idea, etc.). To create in this respect would be to bring into being something that was not there before. We have long been told that only God could create ex nihilo. But perhaps all things, as things, are created from nothing.

emerge and be felt.

This new environment could in no way be construed in terms of absence. Indeed, while Cloud Clock Love eschewed the kinds of representative structures in which we are usually asked to create (and those requests are not so much requests to create, but rather to manage or manufacture or repeat), the space it opened up was not in fact unstructured. Again, this nothing is not an absence, nor is it a lack. Instead, it engendered another sort of structure, one constituted through the relationships of participants with one another and with the things around them. It was something plural, something rhizomatic. This is what made the experiment and the results it produced unique, and indeed, the experiment is one that can never be repeated: a similarly open

Cloud Clock Love was a remarkable two day experiment in the creativity of this nothing. There is an experience of creativity that is difcult to pin down even if in some respects it is commonplace, an experience that brings the person who has created something, when asked how he or she came up with the creation, to answer, I dont know where it came from; it came to me. Cloud Clock Love

structure can certainly be set up, but the contingent connections that develop in this new structure will not be the same. Cloud Clock Love was not a model that others could or should repeat. The experimentation was not one to conrm a scientic hypothesis but one to present an idea. It is not to be veried by

repeating the experiment in order to reach the same results. The appropriate response to it is to present something new - that is to say, to create. Through nothing we create, and what we create, sometimes, amounts to nothing at all. Creativity is in no way obligated to give itself a goal to achieve. At the same time, however, the structured organization of things around us, the goals and plans set out for us and towards which we work, are all creations too, since they did not come about on their own but had to be invented. In this respect, even our most uncreative structures are products of creativity. And this is the case too even with our everyday understanding of nothing as an absence or deciency, as the opposite of something, as an object that we represent to ourselves. This nothing too is created, and as such it is the product of an unrepeatable experiment. Of course, the idea of nothing as an absence is certainly created and re-created - otherwise it would not be with us all the time. But every time it is re-created, the process is something new. Nathan Widder

Nathan Widder Dr Nathan Widder is a Reader in Political Theory at Royal Holloway, University of London. His work explores concepts of identity, difference, power, and representation, carried out through engagements with ideas in the history of Western thought, contemporary Continental philosophy, and psychoanalysis. He is author of Genealogies of Difference (University of Illinois Press, 2002), Reections on Time and Politics (Penn State University Press, 2008) and Political Theory after Deleuze (Continuum Press, 2012).

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Introduction
"Most speeches are full of ideas. This one doesn't have to have any. But at any moment an idea may come along. Then we may enjoy it. Structure without life is dead. But Life without structure is un-seen." John Cage
I am your anti-matter is the nal phase of a research and development project, Cloud Clock Love, supported by the National Lottery through the Arts Council England. The project has sought to explore a conception of nothing that lies beyond the functional, political, traditional, historical, and representational, and that makes no reference to self, memory, identity, or meaning. It also tried to tap into the creative power of this nothing through a process of independent collaboration set out through a two-day durational laboratory that took place on 3-4 September 2011 at the Siobhan Davies Studios in London. I cannot thank enough all those who participated and contributed to the event. And, of course, I am grateful to all the support, which went beyond simply nancial support, provided by the Arts Council England and the National Lottery.

At the heart of the Cloud Clock Love project was the two-day durational lab. An open invitation went out for artists and non-artists of any and all backgrounds. They were free to enter and leave the space

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as they wished. They were provided with minimal starting points that included action scores, performance scores, sound scores, short texts, and t-shirts. These starting points served only as invitations, and beyond this the participants were simply left with nothing - no instructions, no overarching structure for the event, no time constraints except insofar as the lab was eventually to end. Participants were free to respond as they wished, to create individually or collaboratively, to take up the work left by those who came earlier, or to leave behind work for others to take up. Two artists also added durational live documentation, including live Twitter and Facebook updates, which also fed back into the creative process. Over the course of the lab, the studio space itself, as well as the live documentation, became works of art. This was not in any way a goal of the lab; it was simply a result of a process of emergence that the loose conditions of the lab made possible.

organized at ]performance s p a c e [ in Hackney, London, which is scheduled to begin in May, 2012. Information can be found at the end of the e-book.

This project began with a concept of nothing that came to me through previous artistic experiences and research. One of the important lessons I learned came from the way that, in the course of planning, holding, and later reecting on the lab, the concept I began with also changed a great deal. This was unexpected, but it should not have been a surprise, I think, because the concept of nothing is always and must always be changing. It is impossible to know it fully, and so our experiences must always change what we know it to be. This is one more reason for I must thank all the participants, contributors, and others who have helped me take this journey.

As part of the Cloud Clock Love project, this e-book has been produced to disseminate information about the laboratory and the ideas that inspired it. However, I very much hope that it can also serve as a piece of artwork itself, one that has been inspired by the project about which it also reports. The principles the underpin the project are those of Open Space Technology, which promotes horizontal and collaborative engagement and exchange towards a goal that always remains open and incomplete. The book is therefore includes interactive content and is composed in a way that connects it to the outside, offering readers the opportunity to add content, if not to the book itself, than to the tweets, web pages, and blogs that are embedded as hyperlinks in the text. It also includes contributions from artists and non-artists who did not participate in the original laboratory but whose work has been inspired by it or relates to its principles in some way. Finally, the creative process developed in this project will be carried forward with a 12-month durational laboratory,

Li-E Chen

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durational laboratory on nothing

C HAPTER 2

C LOUD CL OCK L OVE - R OOF S TUDIO ,

SIOBHAN DAVIES STUDIOS , LONDON , UK ,

3-4

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2011

Ceiling

Sound score

Space

Fan & Numbers Preparation has reached____, _______.

Plain envelopes Color envelopes (invitation) I am your anti-matter

The interactive map contains a series of performance scores as a starting point of the lab.

Durational Live Writing

Floor

Available on iPad only

A structure of 3 on nothing Nothing Political

1 of 13 INTERACTIVE MAP: CLOUD CLOCK LOVE durational laboratory on nothing by Li-E Chen, Roof Studio, Siobhan Davies Studios, London 3-4 september 2011

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L I -E C HEN - F AN

AND

N UMBERS (2011) - A NIMATION

Click on screen to watch video or click here for web link

VIDEO: CLOUD CLOCK LOVE durational laboratory on nothing by Li-E Chen. Shot by Nathan Widder. Edited by Bean Roof Studio, Siobhan Davies Studios, London, UK, 3-4 september 2011

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Li-E Chen's nothing manifesto

BEFORE NOTHING HAPPENS Nothing to interpret Nothing to discuss Nothing to analyse Nothing to talk Nothing to explain Nothing to curate Only in the condition of preparation for something or for a situation to take place...

J AMES H ODGSON AND I VOR H OUKER C LOUD C LOCK L OVE - R OOF S TUDIO , S IOBHAN D AVIES S TUDIOS , L ONDON , UK

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AFTER NOTHING HAPPENS Nothing to lead Nothing to facilitate Nothing to direct Nothing to choreograph Nothing to act Nothing to show Nothing to exhibit We only become invisible in this space... so that we can be free...

J AMES H ODGSON C LOUD C LOCK L OVE - R OOF S TUDIO , S IOBHAN D AVIES S TUDIOS , L ONDON , UK

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Nothing will come of nothing. Nothing can be made out of nothing.

(King Lear, Act 1.1 and Act 1.4)

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preparation has reached___, _______.

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ a 2 Day Durational Lab on Nothing with artists Victoria Gray and Bean | Unedited documentation via twitter by Li-E Chen | 28 Aug - 4 Sept 2011 | London (UK)

C l o u d C l o c k L o v e 3 - 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 1 . Siobhan Davies Studios, London, UK.

Written by Li-E Chen, in preparation the open durational laboratory on Nothing, following by her statement of Preparation has reached_______, ______________. Action of not-knowing

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AN EVENT WAS HAPPENING UNDER THE STATE OF PREPARATION CONDITION TO REACH THE STATE OF 0 or NOTHING AS POSSIBLE

4 Sep

Victoria Gray @ACTIONOTHING 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open #CloudClockLove A DUET FOR DANIEL & IVOR Retweeted by Li-E Chen () Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Are you measuring your intelligence? #CloudClockLove @1212360

4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @daniel_pitt @aplaceofaction Prep has reached 51: No records match this set of nd requests. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING In reply to Daniel Pitt 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Are you waiting for an idea to come along? Don't wait - it will be too late. #CloudClockLove 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open What is your expectation of at the start of the lab? 4 Sep 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @Hamish_says had ni light morning conversation @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction about action #CloudClockLove #fb @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction In reply to @HamishMacP 4 Sep Hamish MacPherson @HamishMacP 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @1212360 I am not present (0) but I have moments of engagement (1) with what though? #CloudClockLove Retweeted by Li-E Chen () 4 Sep J AMES H ODGSON

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @Hamish_says @daniel_pitt @aplaceofaction Preparation has reached 50: +Nothing. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ @ivorhoulker In reply to @HamishMacP

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15 principles of Black Market International. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction ]performancespace[ @aplaceofaction 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open they return, pace space selecting numbers, marking no thing striped down chest 36: I m your anti matter #fb Retweeted by Li-E Chen () 4 Sep 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open worrying doing something wrong. #CloudClockLove #fb 4 Sep

Victoria Gray @ACTIONOTHING 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open #CloudClockLove RESEARCH PHASE Retweeted by Li-E Chen () 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Negotiation, not verbal #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open really nice light conversation about action, art, performance, etc. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Noticing it is happening, doesn't have to judge yourself or others. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open preoaration has reached: 36 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Negotiation - yourself with the others, individual. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open

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Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open just noticing it is happening #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @iambsebastian thanks for coming yesterday!! Great to have you here! hope to see you again #CloudClockLove In reply to Benjamin Sebastian

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open your body has history/memory already, it is already there. #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep

3 Sep

Benjamin Sebastian @iambsebastian 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @aplaceofaction @1212360 got ya. X Retweeted by Li-E Chen () In reply to ]performancespace[ 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open not choreography or planning, action only #CloudClockLove #fb @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @Hamish_says Set up Live Stream for Cloud Clock Love - LAB, watch site www.liechen.com, it will be live stream there, exact time2follow.

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Action: TASK to yourself, TASH you create for yourself. #CloudClockLove #fb 4 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open action of not expressing anything #CloudClockLove #fb 4 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Close 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 38 I am an individual. #CloudClockLove #fb

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Preparation has reached: 45 No records match this set of nd requests. The tshirt is so small. #CloudClockLove #fb 12:01 PM - 3 Sep 11 via web Details 1 Reply Retweet Favorite

Victoria Gray @ACTIONOTHING 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation for #CloudClockLove has reached @ACTIONOTHING, Keep going @1212360..... Retweeted by Li-E Chen ()

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 6 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove #fb Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 6 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove eepurl.com/ fnALk

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 43 Hold on a second. #CloudClockLove #fb Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open #fb looking forward to seeing you tomorrow @aplaceofaction! around 30 people coming for the weekend lab. eepurl.com/fnALk 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 13 I must actually perform this experiment. #CloudClockLove #fb

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 24 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove eepurl.com/ fnALk 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 43 I am an individual. #CloudClockLove #fb Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 12 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove #fb eepurl.com/fnALk

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2 Sep

2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 24 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove #fb eepurl.com/fnALk 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 40 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING #fb eepurl.com/fnALk 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 24 I am your anti-matter. 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 37 Hold on a second. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 24 I am your anti-matter. #fb 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 37 Hold on a second. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING #fb 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 24 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING eepurl.com/fnALk 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 21 I am an individual. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 40 I am your anti-matter. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING eepurl.com/fnALk Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open

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Preparation has reached: 21 I am an individual. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING #fb 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 33 Let me think. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING full invitation here: eepurl.com/fnALk 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 28 + Nothing 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 28 + Nothing #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 29 Hold on a second. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING full invitat: eepurl.com/fnALk 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 29 Hold on a second. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @aplaceofaction @ACTIONOTHING full invitat: eepurl.com/fnALk #fb 2 Sep 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Reminder!! this weekend a durational lab on 'Nothing' at Siobhan Davies Studios / London SE1 6ER (SAT) 3 Sept... fb.me/17gGdilAo 2 Sep 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Durational Live Writing of the lab on 'Nothing' will be documented live by artists Victoria Gray and Bean. Watch... fb.me/YjjjgTQr 2 Sep 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 51 No records match this set of nd requests. @1212360 #CloudClockLove @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open

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Preparation has reached: 49 I am your anti-matter. @1212360 #CloudClockLove @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 2 Sep Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open 39 No reco d ma h t is se o d equests #CloudClockLove @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction #fb 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Preparation has reached: 49 I am your anti-matter. @1212360 #CloudClockLove @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction #fb 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open 46 I must actually perform this experiment. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open 35 objects are being processed under the iron, preparing #CloudClockLove lab for 3-4Sept at Siobhan Davies Studios. #fb goo.gl/7mjsY 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open 46 I must actually perform this experiment. #CloudClockLove @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction #fb 1 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open 46 I must actually perform this experiment. @1212360 #CloudClockLove @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction 2 Sep

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Finished printing 15 of 35 t-shirts in the last 6 hours. Go to bed now.

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open 46 I must actually perform this experiment. @1212360 #CloudClockLove @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction #fb 2 Sep

30 Aug

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Time and matrix #CloudClockLove wp.me/pWz4M-wM

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29 Aug

That's great!! @1212360 is very looking forward to 19 hours durational lab on 'Nothing' @ACTIONOTHING & @aplaceofaction #CloudClockLove #fb In reply to Victoria Gray

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open @1212360 @ACTIONOTHING @aplaceofaction less than 6 days, a lab on Nothing - Going from or to "0" #CloudClockLove #fb liechen.com 29 Aug

28 Aug

Victoria Gray @ACTIONOTHING 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open #CloudClockLove ACTIONOTHING TESTING NOTHING, looking forward Li & Bean Retweeted by Li-E Chen () 28 Aug

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open An email will be sent out to all participants later this evening!! Meanwhile, you can visit www.liechen.com home... fb.me/uaYN15fT 29 Aug

Victoria Gray @ACTIONOTHING 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open #CloudClockLove 19 hour Lab Retweeted by Li-E Chen () 28 Aug

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Get ready now #CloudClockLove wp.me/pWz4M-wz 29 Aug Li-E Chen () 1212360@ Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open FOLLOW US on twitter #CloudClockLove 19 hours durational lab on 'Nothing' 3-4 Sept 2011 @ACTIONOTHING -... fb.me/u8CyIFek 29 Aug Li-E Chen () 1212360@ Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open This is a test of the emergency broadcast system #CloudClockLove #fb: wp.me/ pWz4M-wf 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open It is really exciting the online duration platform on "nothing" is set up now. #CloudClockLove 28 Aug

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4:27 PM - 28 Aug 11 via WordPress.com Details 1 Reply Retweet Favorite 28 Aug

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open a week to go wp.me/pWz4M-w1 28 Aug

Li-E Chen () 1212360@ 1 Reply Retweet Favorite Open Cloud Clock Love 2011: wp.me/pWz4M-vS

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victoria gray

C HAPTER 3

on the condition

Victoria Gray - On The Condition

Performance demands the presence and attention of the body. 'On The Condition' re-focuses on what is 'invisible' and therefore often subject to 'exclusion' in our articulation and experience of live performance and more particularly 'the body'. It challenges dominant modes of producing, experiencing and writing about performance that rest on what is sayable, legible and visible in favour of the un-sayable, illegible and invisible. It suggests that political, social and cultural factors have, with intent, desensitised our ability to be open to bodily sense perceptions cultivating a 'blind spot' in our experience. The conditions of this text are that there is a reading and a writing of 'something' where there rst appears to be 'nothing'.

'Appearance is our condition, and memory our truth.' (Brandt, in Bal, 1999, 44)

Read [the body] close in order to see [the body] or all have lost [the body]

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What remains to be [un]seen is [still] of the body. Porous bodies, porous materials, porous texts; each reciprocates the other. Bodies, materials, texts implicate each other, are changed [charged] by each other. A [non]sense emerges, even if it seems the eyes were closed when writing. Thin [skin] bres are made to be unpicked slowly and carefully from seams that seem to unravel a formlessness. A body, a material, a text with no edges; unravelling carelessly [but still carefully]. Disappearing if only to remain, to be [un]seen as [bodily] remains.

Presence said [to Absence], I need you in order to be seen at all

Light makes shadows [reveals the dark]

Absence touches Presence, Presence touches Absence. Absence reciprocates this feeling but neither feel the same. Absence, the unrequited lover of Presence, is always seen as moving [on its way out of the door]. The way we feel we are often touched by Absence but nd it difcult to touch it for it is not an it. But we do sense absent things. Hairs on the back of the neck stand to attention when Absence enters the room [through the side door] softly in stocking feet. The soft touch of both caresses us as we nd ourselves a soft touch in the Presence of Absence.

Throwing light on a subject object but [still] left in the dark. The more we see the less we know, the more we know the less we see; less inclined to look. Feeling [in the] dark, things make themselves [un]known and the [un]known appears in the shadows. Here, in this contrast between light and shade an inbetween form forms a constructive tension that reveals itself to be formless [and therefore a bit shady].

Contact [is touching]

Skin, the sensor [censor] of sweat, blood, spit; tightens as we try to control those we absorb and swallow. Hard skin; to keep the 'outside', the 'other' at bay. Soft [political] systems [are bound to] fail yet we must [still] trust and perform a [politics of] soft logic.

A slow death [still] moves us What a way to go [to cause a 'seen']

Subtlety asks for a difcult way of [un]seeing. Forfeit the need to full need and the needy eyes feeding on the [performance] happening. Happening to notice the invisible [performance] walk into [and out of] the room. Post-spectacle, in [living] memory; Subtlety shows itself to be chaos in disguise.

Going unnoticed, not even noticed going, makes going noticeable. I watched nothing leave the room and it was really something.

Stillness [is moving]

There is friction in Stillness, in its always being 'between'. It is this static that makes Stillness moving. It is often moving to watch and to be watched when so often you [dis]appear to 'Be' not here. Yet, should 'Being' in the [privileged] realm of the 'visible' qualify presence.

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durational live writing

Victoria Gray @ACTIONOTHING a 2 Day Durational Lab on Nothing with

artist Bean | Online event curated by Li-E Chen | 3-4 September | London

C l o u d C l o c k L o v e 3 - 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 1 . Siobhan Davies Studios, London, UK. Written by Victoria Gray on the occasion of Cloud Clock Love, A Two-day Durational Lab on Nothing. This text is embedded with links and therefore references outside of itself.

33

1 10:20 10:28 10:28 COMPLICATED 10:32 BREAK UP 10:36 REMOVE FROM YESTERDAY RIGHT SIDE RECORD 10:40 DURATION DAYS PEOPLE MIGHT LAB ALL OF YOU IN THE MIDDLE IS THE ENVELOPE SCHOOLING CHOOSING CHOOSING SCHOOLING GOOD GIRL(S) GOOD BOYS(S) 10:44 CONSTANT 10:45 TRANSCRIBING 10:52 10:56 LINK POLITICAL SIDESTEPPING 11:06 WATER STRUCTURE 11:10 LINK 11:12 REMEMBERING FROM THE FLOOR STRUCTURE IS BROKEN EXTRANEOUS INVERT 11:19 LI T 11:37 THIS EQUATES TO NOTHING 11:46 SEED PENS 12:03 ZEROES AND ONES PLANT AN IDEA 12:13 12:25

ON THE PAGE TRY THIS AND 12:39 HERMETIC 12:51 SEED PENS SEED PENS 12:54 SOUND FINALLY LISTENMONK BREAKFASE 13:08 A NEW STARTER 13:13 I AM HER ANTI-MATTER PEOPLE ARE RESTING AND THIS IS NICE SLOWING DOWN DENSE SLOW MOVING SENSORIUM (HEATHFIELD, A) 13:33 uncanny 28 13:34 13:43 WHERE IS LI? BINARY CHOICES GOING ON THERE AND IT IS NICE, WHAT SHE IS DOING SKETCHING WHAT SHE IS DOING IS SKETCHING 28: LLR2R112LLRRL22111LLRL2R112L211121LLRRRRR211LR2112LLRRL2111LLR L2R12LR1121LRR2R112LLR2211112LR2R112LLRLL211LLRL2L112R2R1R1121L LRRRL2R12L22111L112R1121L11112RRLR2R11211LLRL2R12LRLLRR2R12LLR RLL22R21121121LRLRL211 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .. . . . .. .. . .. . . . .. . .. . . .. 13:56 HOLD ON A SECOND THINKING ABOUT PHASING BLACK MARKET 14:00 FASING LIVE FEED NOW 14:19

34

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS sLi 14:37 14:42 BRAILLE TALKING . T-SHIRT LIKE A NUN KNEELING WAVING THE NUMBER 39 T-SHIRT SKIRT DRESS CHATTERING HOLDING CABLE OPENING LEGS SLIGHTLY LYING ANCHOR GET INTO YOUR SKIRT LIKE IT WERE A PAIR OF TROUSERS WEAR YOUR SKIRT LIKE IT WERE A PAIR OF TROUSERS STOP PERFORMING 15:03 15:04 Z LI E CHEN (THOSE TESSELATED SHAPES) 15:07 15:09 AFTERNOON SLUMBER STRONGER CASE PUSH DURATION AWAY 15:14 LET THEM THINK 15:15 I WISH WE COULD HAVE SOME SOUND ON GIVE ME VIOLINS, SOMETHING EPIC REALLY LONG CABLES LIABLE BECOMES ROPE FOR SKIPPING / PUTTING THINGS OFF USE SHES FINDING THE (SO CALLED) NEGATIVE SPACE 33 REMOVES HERSELF @15:25 HOW TO GET OUT OF THIS FORMULA THIS FUCKING FORMULA EXCESS IS 15:29 COME BACK BOY 12 15:37 WALKER RESPITE BECOMES AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT MUSE BY THE WINDOW HAS PRESENCE GUY 15:48 WHAT WOULD IT BE LIKE IF THERE WERE NO TASKS / NO SCORES LI? @1212360@APLACEOFACTION@ACTIONOTHING 15:42 16:18 16:39

SEBASTIAN ARRIVES FROM THE WATCHTOWER BERLIN MELTING HONEY ON LIGHTBULBS AS THEY BURN, CARAMEL LIKE . . .-. LEVITATE 16:46 12345678910 OK 123456789101234567891012345678910 OK OK I DONT KNOW 1234567891012345678910 OK I DONT KNOW 123456789101234567891012345678910 OK I DONT KNOW 12345678910123456789101234567891012345678910 OK 16:53 END BAD MIC 16:55 18:15 BACK LONGER THAN EXPECTED LI READING @PLACEOFACTION READING @APLACEOFACTION ONTHEWALLS 18:19 JUST LESS THAN 3 HOURS MM 11 11 11 18:26 11 33 44 22

35

18:28 GRAPE BOWL GINGER ALE STOMACH EMPTIER ROOM WATER BOWL HURT 18:30 RIGHT IN ITS PLACE ( IS ALSO 0 ) 18:38 AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE ENGINES MARKING PONDS; STRETCHING OUT; BANQUETING; NUTS & CHEESE & BREAD; COFFEE & WATER; CLOSER AEROGEL 18:46 18:46 18:47 AND COUNTING SMALLER NOW 18:52 CREDIT NW 18:54 CIRCULATING B STAYING IN POWER I AM NOT SURE I UNDERSTAND THE EQUATIONS BUT I WOULD LIKE TO WRITING TO PRODUCE SOMETHING ATTEMPT GUILTY 5 NO 0.50 WHISKY 19:03 19:19 SECOND 19:22 THAT ONE MAN AGAIN LEFT OUT

1 + 0 IS STILL 1 19:42 RECORDING AFTER TOMORROW 19:44 46 PEOPLE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEMSELVES WHEN THEY ENTER THE SPACE 19:48 LIKE GLUE #CloudClockLove | ALGEBRA COMFORT | EQUATION SOFTENER | SEQUENCING SENSE | NUMBER BED | RATIONAL SYMBOLS | CONFIRMATION QUIETER | YES DIGITS SHOW YOUR WORKING 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 1 HOUR LEFT OF DAY 1 NOTHING ONE O O = OIN WEBDINGS FONT O O AND O IN WINGDINGS FONT

19:29 O

36

EAR + FLAG CALL ATTENTION WITH O O MOUTH 20:15 2016 WAITING WILD @1212360 EXPLAINING CREATING A STRUCTURE ON OF NOTHING AND TRYING TO FIND A WAY TO FIND AN EQUIVALENT FIND IT I THINK AH A STRUCTURE OF NOTHING IT DOESNT IT BECOME 1 AND 2 DOT WITH NOTHING IN BETWEEN EYES A DRAWN TO THE WINDOW / OUTSIDE SPACE / OUTSIDE FRAME / PUNCTUM PUNCTUM PUNCTUM PUNCTUM STUDIUM STUDIUM STUDIUM 20:26 363 HOME 20:28 46 DISCUSSION 88 MSGS 1ST TIME ON MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC RICH RICH VERONIQUE THE MOST SONG THE SMALL DANCE

THE STAND THE TAKING OF PHOTOGRAPHS THE TAKING OFF THE STRANGER DANCING THE CINEMATIC THE WAITING ENDING THE 11 HOURS CLOSING THE PARTICIPATING THE INHIBITIONS LOST; CURTAILED THE OPERA THE SCREAMING THE CIRCLING OF THE WRIST THE SOFTLY WALKING ACROSS LINO THE WINDOW WANTING NOTHING MORE THE 46 HANDS OF EARS MUMBLING THE SHOPPER RESTED GENTLY THE EPIC THE BAROQUE THE OIL PAINTING THE RODIN THE PARIS THE DARK NIGHTS THE SHAME THE RUBBER BALL BOUNCING THE PLASTER SHOWERS THE DOUBLE THE CURE THE RECORDING THE ANTI-MATTER THE 11TH HOUR THE LAST 15 THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN THE INDIVIDUAL THE SOLO SHE SENT ME THE PERFORM THE REACHED THE REQUESTS THE TAPE THE ROME THE I AM THE SECOND DOUBLE THE INDIVIDUAL THE PLUS THE SECOND THE ACTUALLY EXPERIMENT THE RECORDED MATTER

37

THE LAST TEN MINUTES / 1 0 ARE LIKE PERMISSIONS ARE LIKE DISCREET BAGS ARE LIKE GOODBYES ARE LIKE CORNERS GO ON THEN @APLACEOFACTION EXPLAIN ANTIMATTER TO ME Day 2. 1st post @10 & I am the only 1 PINTER NO MANS LAND 10:14 ACTION WHAT WORK OUTSIDE 10:55 I AM NOT WORKING HARD ENOUGH 12:09 35 ANTI MATTER MAN ARRIVES 12:09 RESEARCH PHASE 12:10 12:23 HE BECOMES SEBASTIAN A DUET FOR DANIEL AND IVOR 50 + 51 12:36 SOMETHING IN SPITE OF ONES SELF ADMIN 100 @ 12:37 D2 STILL A DUET TAKING SHAPE LESS TODAY IN TIME BUT IN ENTRY ALSO LINKING OUT PRODUCING 14:25 BACK FEELING BAD PERMISSIONS BEING THOROUGH DUET PLANNING IT OUT MORE ROOTED THAN YESTERDAY SETTLED GROUNDED IN A COUPLE OF HOURS THEY MADE THIS SPACE 14:30 TABLET LIGHT LIKE SCHOLASTIC FUTURE CHECKING AGAINST PAPER TECHNOLOGY FOR SIGNS POINTERS ROOTS LEADS NEXTS POSTS 14:33 HAS REACHED 36 14:52 50 READING WALL TEXTS AND 36 ALSO 15:01

36 IS WALKING WITH A BENCH ON HIS SHOULDERS 36 IS RUNNING WITH A BENCH ON HIS SHOULDERS AND IS LOWERING IN A VERY CONSIDERED WAY AND LOWERING IN A VERY CONSIDERED WAY TO ANONYMOUS SOUNDS 15:10 DENY ONES SELF WHAT IS TRANSFERRABLE WHAT IS WHAT IS NEW IS INTRODUCING ONES SELF 15:21 NOTICING MYSELF LOOKING NOTING THE TIME THAT IS NUMBERS SUITS BACK KNEE PLAYS 5 15:38 PUT YOURSELF ASIDE VOID () TRUE BEING OF ANOTHER SHARING 16:09 SHARING AS WE GO ALONG because IT IS FUNCTIONAL LESS DUPLICATION TODAY 16:42 LISTENING TO YESTERDAY THROUGH SOMEONE ELSE AND THEIR RECORDING 16:45 PETERING OUT Verb to peter out (third-person singular simple present peters out, present participle petering out, simple past and past participle petered out) 1. (idiomatic) To dwindle; to tail off; to diminish to nothing. 2. What started as a great effort ended up petering out to nothing. 16:49 11 LEFT A GREAT EFFORT 17:01

38

bio

Victoria Gray
Victoria Gray is a performance artist and writer based in York, UK. Her performance and textualwork explores the politics of movement and ways in which sociocultural factors inscribe and exert control over the body. Through performance actions and writing, her work considers how the body might be antagonistic and resistant to dominant techniques of corporeal inscription, silencing and subordination. Victoria has developed solo performance work nationally and internationally and has had critical and art writing published in academic books and online. Victoria is co-founder of O U I Performance,York with artist Nathan Walker. O U I Performance, is a not-for-prot, artist-led organization curating live timebased performance art with a national and international prole.

39

yingmei duan

C HAPTER 4

P HOTO

BY

M EL ATI S URYODARMO

Yingmei Duan, 2015 at the Future Imagination Art Center in Singapore

Good evening, everybody! Today I will bring you Yingmei Duans solo exhibition in Singapore.

Yingmei has had previous solo shows were in Chengdu, Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing and Bangkok in Asia. For each exhibition she writes different concepts.

In Chengdu at the Bei chun Modern Art Centre it had the concept "Dream."

In Chongqing at the Modern Art Centre the concept was "Melancholy." In Shanghai at the Fei Modern Art Center the concept was "search" In Beijing at the Rain Modern Art Center the concept was "wish". In Bangkok at the Modern Art Center the concept was "love".

P HOTO

BY

M EL ATI S URYODARMO

41

Ladies and gentlemen, please imagine we are in the year 2015. Now we are in the capital of Singapore and we are at the Future imagination Modern Art Center in Singapore. For this solo show Yingmei writes about the concept "fear". The Arts Center is reformed from a small church.

The art centre in Singapore published a book for her solo show. It is about 180 pages, and you can buy her catalogue in the art centre shop. The exhibition of Yingmei Duan runs for 14 days.

Please follow me now. Before we begin our tour, we must be very quiet and please switch off all your mobile phones.

Please imagine we are at the Future Imagination Modern Art centre in Singapore in 2015, we are visiting Yingmei Duans solo exhibition. Now we are in the foyer of the Art center. There are many people from different countries around the world who are visiting Yingmeis exhibition. The Art centre directors Lee Wen and Jason Lim are here. The people who are sitting in the cafeteria are yingmeis past teachers Marina Abramovi and Christoph Schlingensief.

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The rst exhibition space

This space is darkly lit. We see a very simple scene on the left hand side we see a photo - this photo is square. And the size of the picture is about one meter. There are 4 kids, two of them are sitting on a small bench, and the other two kids are standing. They are all laughing.

In the background of the picture is a replace which keeps you warm in winter. There are layers of quilts on the bed. There are two windows at the back of the replace.

The two standing kids are older than the other two sitting kids. The brothers hair is very short, and his three sisters have longer hair. They all wear winter clothes. One of the little girls looks very curious and her face is very sweet. She is holding a doll. Her doll looks almost the same size as her.

Now as we go around the room we can see in the corner there is a video projection on the oor. On the screen the little girl hugs the doll and is sitting on the oor with her back to us, She is drawing, and at the same time she is talking to herself. What she is saying is not clear, and we cant really understand anything.

Please take your time to go around the space and then we meet in the second space.

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The second exhibition space

In this space we see a different situation. Now in front of us is a very confusing and very chaotic scene family scene.

We see 4 totally broken windows. One bookshelf is laid on the oor and another one has fallen on a chair, many books are thrown all over the oor. The door of the closet is half open and many clothes were on the oor. The fallen TV on the oor is still smoking. The broken bowls were swept on the oor everywhere from the dining table. Now we hear a very loud voice from a woman, and the sound of breaking objects. She is singing, and we have a feeling she is dancing, too. At the same time, she is yelling and hitting the wall with a hammer.

When we go inside this space, there are lots of medicine bottles and pills on the oor. We can hear a man lying on the ground and groaning. There is also a family picture. From the picture we can tell the man is husband of the woman, and they have 4 kids that we have already seen.

44

The girl is hiding under the table, she looks very frightened. If we stand there for a longer time, we can see the girl continues to grow up in this chaotic environment.

Ladies and gentlemen, in this work, the artist Yingmei Duan combines new computer technology to make this interactive sound video installation.

Please take your time to go around the space and then we meet in the next space.

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The third exhibition space

Please follow me. Now a surprising scene appears in front of our eyes, a very spectacular scene, everything is covered in white. Small white hills, a table lamp, and a slanted chair from the ground ... They are all white. There are little white boats everywhere.

We can also see a winding road. Along the road, we can see three televisions.

The girl hugs her two dogs, and she is talking to them.

We can see a very beautiful landscape. We see a large green eld. And we can hear the sound of birds and sometimes the wind. There is a naked man, he is looking ahead. A girl appears in the distance and approaches the man. She is wearing a pink dress and big glasses. She is looking for something with a magnifying glass and goes quietly towards the man. She is curious about his penis and checks it thoroughly through the magnifying glass. After she has nished her intensive study of the penis, she leaves thoughtfully. We see a big white double bed. In bed we also see a TV screen. On TV the girl

46

hugging a pair of shoes, She is dreaming happily in the white world.

Please take your time to go around the space, then we meet in the next space.

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The fourth exhibition space

Ladies and gentlemen, please imagine we are in the year 2015. Now we are in the capital of Singapore and we are at the Future imagination Modern Art Center in Singapore. We are visiting Yingmei Duans Solo show.

Now we are in the forth exhibition space - please imagine we hear very terrible sounds and we see a horror scene. We see raw meat everywhere. They give us the impression that they are moving slowly. On the four walls there are big sculpture from Buddha, Jesus, Kuan Yin and Mohammad. Meat is hanging from the roof, some are crawling in from the windows, some from the mouth of Jesus, some from the shoulder of Buddha, some moving towards Mohammad.

There are televisions are placed in a circle, from them we can see and hear different terrible voices.

In this TV monitor, we see a polluted scene. We hear the noisiness from motorcycles, cars and trains. It gives us a feeling that we\re always on the road like there is no nal destination.

48

On another TV we see many high-rise buildings, they are all shaking from one side to another. Yingmei worked again with the computer technology. On this TV we can see a lot of people who are in the stock market, They are anxiously watching the numbers.

Here, we can see and hear a promiscuous sex scene. Please think about what you might be seeing - there is a naked woman who shows us her bottom, then she lays on the oor and opens her legs.

There is a philosopher, a thinker, an astronomer, a scientist, and a physicist in the video. They all look like they have mental illnesses. They have all thrown out their own research, and instead they are all studying human love.

We see the girl in the middle, her eyes closed, hands covering her ears. She feels that it is the end of the world. Please take your time to go around the space and then we meet in the next space.

Since 2003 she has developed experimentally, many different projects. For example in 2003 she realized a one month performance in the solo exhibition 26 days in OK. In 2005 she connected performance and installation in the solo exhibition Playing with 14 rooms; In 2006 she created performances that communicated with the other exhibited works of the group exhibition Excellent in dialogue with other artists. In 2007 she researched media performance and painting in the solo exhibition Performance-Painting, where she interprets performance pieces into painted canvasses.

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The fth exhibition space

We see artist Yingmei Duan is doing performance, and this time the performance is combined with literature and music. In the following 14 days, every day she writes a short story and all stories are about fear. We can see her performance now. A week ago, I called two doctors in a hospital, one a woman and the other a man. I told them that I would like to leave this world and disappear forever. Both of them agreed to help me. According to the agreed time I arrived at the hospital. There were no ofcial papers. After I changed into clean clothes, I quietly lay on the bed my mind was completely empty. The female doctor came towards me with a long needle, and gave me a shot. Afterwards I asked her what the injection was. She said a few words, but I did not understand. I could tell that she and the other male doctor were prepared to give me another important shot, the nal needle. I looked at them, and suddenly I started thinking. "If I leave, what about my husband? He will be so very sad and lonely."

50

"And my family? My mother wont let me just die like that. She will ask the Doctor to take all my organs out of my body one by one, my heart, liver and lungs and so on, to nd out the cause of my death. " Then I asked the female doctor again what she injected me with. She repeated again, but I still did not understand. I began to ask myself. "What happened? Why do I not want to live? I still have so many things to do, why would I want to leave this world?" "My mother would take my dead body back to my hometown, and then have it cremated. I would be very sad because my dream is to have a tomb after I die." While the two doctors were still preparing the last needle, suddenly I told them that I did not want to have it! Still unconsciousI was very surprised to see their faces, particularly the woman. She looked very unhappy. I gently repeated:

Because of the injection I became very sad and regretted it. If that shot does not bring me any harm, then I will certainly live well from now on. "Life is so beautiful! I still have so many things I have not done, why would I want to die?"

I regret it, but what can I do? Sadly I open my eyes, and wake up, I realize it was just a dream.

And at the end of the performance Yingmei is singing a song

"I have changed my mind!" I asked her again about the rst needle. She repeated the same response. Strangely, I still could not understand her. Gradually, the two doctors in front of me began to blur. I slowly stood up, staggering out of the room and moved towards the hospital gate. The gate became so short and small, that I had to crawl through. After I got out I ran very quickly back home.

My husband opened the door as usual, with his arms stretched out. He smiled, and hugged me.

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52

Description

Duration: Approx. 40 min. International Performance Art Event, Singapore, 2008 Live performance of Yingmei Duan

In the performance, which took place in Singapore in 2008, Yingmei Duan adopted the role of a museum guide and took spectators on a guided tour through her ctitious upcoming solo exhibition in the year 2015. The spectators were interactively involved in the ction as they were taken into Yingmeis fantasy world. They were able to imagine the artworks and exhibition spaces as she narrated. The performances were conceived site-specically and related to the characteristics of the particular environment and culture of each location. The six performances were a development from a previous performative lecture she gave at Kunstverein Kassel in 2007.

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bio

Ying-Mei Duan
Born in China, Yingmei Duan is part of the Chinese avant-garde. She worked as a painter for many years, living in the legendary art district of Beijings East Village. In 1995 she participated in the performance, To add one meter to an anonymous mountain, which is considered one of the classics of Chinese modern art. She became a pure performance artist under the inuence of Marina Abramovi, with whom she studied at the HBK Braunschweig in Germany from 2000 to 2004. There, she also worked for one year with the lmmaker and action artist, Christoph Schlingensief. Yingmei Duan has made her name in numerous national and international exhibitions, festivals, residencies, lectures and workshops through her performance art. Yingmei Duan is a curious observer who questions all facets of life in order to continuously learn and develop. For the past twelve years she has concentrated her energy and creativity on making performance art and researching the medium. Much of Yingmeis performance art explores human instincts such as fear and desires. Various different themes inspire Yingmei and are reected in her work, including examining society and questioning its conventions and human behaviour. Within her performances she crosses mediums and often incorporates sound, video and installation. She often spontaneously develops performances as situational experiments. On the other hand, she can also plan her performances with intense attention being paid to the last detail. Besides her solo projects, Yingmei loves to work with people from different cultures, ages and areas of life, and has realized over 50 collaborative performances. Her artworks, frequently in progress, can stretch over long periods of time.

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li-e chen

C HAPTER 5

a structure of 3 on nothing

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343

ASTRUCTUREOF3ISNORECORDSMATCHTHISSETOFFINDREQUESTS

__________________________________________________________________

A structure of 3 on nothing was created during the process of thinking about a formula that offered the possibility to create works on and with nothing. This formula is the formula of the next section, Nothing Political.
A S TRUCTURE
OF

ON

N OTHING (2011) L I -E C HEN

56

A structure of 3 on nothing is trying to conceive a formula for a creativity that has no reference to self, identify, memory or meaning.

I started to ask myself about what is pure movement. 1 Movement is no longer pure when choreographers reference movement 2 with identity, story, historical context, memory or meaning. 1 However, pure movement can exist and can be given through mechanical units 1 (i.e. numbers/numbering). 2 The human body/mind functions as a mechanical system, 1 2 as a binary operation and as something beyond our understanding. 1

What if I replace the number of 3 with FEAR in the formula that is a structure of 3 on nothing, the formula that is Nothing Political? Then the formula of nothing will become a condition of uncertainty, where the FEAR is not knowing what will happen. Would this not also be the formula for pure movement? 1 2

A S TRUCTURE

OF

ON

N OTHING (2011) L I -E C HEN

57

What if someone asks me what void means?

What if someone asks me what void means?

Void isnt about emptiness; void is about nothing. Void is about not knowing, because we do not know what it is. Therefore, it is nothing: nothing to be explained; nothing to be discussed; nothing to be analyzed; nothing to talk about. I am here. I, I, I, actually... there is no existence of I; sorry, I should not exist. Nothing is not nothing, we just ignore the existence, even nothing should be counted as existence. Well, I am going to die now.

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nothing political

59

60

Conversations about a formula on nothing political Li-E Chen (LC) Ivor Houker (IH) Will Fung (WF)

Since Nothing is negative to Everything, we may then get: NP = 3EP + 2(-EP) NP = 3EP 2EP NP = EP Nothing Political = Everything Political.

In conclusion, it seems that political issues cannot be avoid in this modern (IH/LC) If we replace Nothing with n, we may then get: NP + n = 3 (EP + n) NP + n = 3EP +3n n = 3EP + 3n NP NP = 3EP + 3n n NP = 3EP + 2n Nothing Political = 3 x Everything Political + 2 x Nothing Nothing = 3 x Everything Political + 3 x Nothing Nothing Political .: n = 3 x Everything Political + 3 x n Nothing Political In further simplication, NP = EP NP/P = EP/P N = E Which means Nothing is Everything! There is nothing no such thing as Everything existing in the world world at the very moment. It just depends on ones point of view

(LC) (WF/LC) if we we replace the number of 3 with FEAR, then we can get the result of If we substitute Nothing Political for Nothing, we will get: NP = 3EP + 2NP Nothing Political as:

61

Nothing Political + Nothing = FEAR (Everything Political + Nothing) Nothing Political + Nothing = FEAR (Everything Political) + FEAR (Nothing) Nothing = FEAR (Everything Political) + FEAR (Nothing) - Nothing Political Nothing Political = FEAR (Everything Political) + FEAR (Nothing) - Nothing

What is your take on this formula? Reply via twitter #nothingpolitical

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n+1, n+1, n+1, n+1, etc.

W HAT IS YOUR NAME ? N = U (2009) L I -E C HEN A RTIST R ESIDENCY AT THE C HINESE A RTS C ENTRE | M ANCHESTER (UK)

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THE CONDITION OF PREPARATION It Was Recorded While I Was Recording the Records (2012) Li-E Chen

Preparation has reached: 53, I must actually perform this experiment Preparation has reached: 43, I am an individual Preparation has reached: 6, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 31, let me think Preparation has reached: 4, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 41, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 18, I am an individual Preparation has reached: 23, I must actually perform this experiment Preparation has reached: 27, I am your anti-matter

Preparation has reached: 46, I must actually perform this experiment Preparation has reached: 36, I am here Preparation has reached: 31, +nothing Preparation has reached: 42, hold on a second Preparation has reached: 39, No reco d ma h t is se o d equests Preparation has reached: 46, I must actually perform this experiment Preparation has reached: 26, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 13, I must actually perform this experiment Preparation has reached: 2, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 50, +nothing Preparation has reached: 28, +nothing Preparation has reached: 36, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 49, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 35, I am here Preparation has reached: 34, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 51, I must actually perform this experiment Preparation has reached: 33, Hold on a second Preparation has reached: 40, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 32, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 47, No record match this set of nd requests Preparation has reached: 38, I am an individual Preparation has reached: 30, I must actually perform this experiment Preparation has reached: 29, Hold on a second Preparation has reached: 45, No record match this set of nd requests Preparation has reached: 1, I am your anti-matter Preparation has reached: 24, I am your anti-matter

There are two types of repeatable loops. One is a linear close system, which involves accepting head-on a particular death sentence (Golding, 1999: 34); and the other is a non-linear system as a wave pattern, such as fragments of unspeakable or non-structured words/sentences.

The above repeatable action was a preparation process for a situation in which we do not know what it is going to happen. Instead of feeling fear of having nothing to do or happen, the preparation process allow an un-known event and un-knowable situation to be undertaken control. 1n 2n 3n 4 1n 2n 3n 4 1n 2n 3n 4 1 2 3 4 5n 6 7 8 9 10 10

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In the diagrams below, the gap between 1 and 2, O/n+1, contains something meaningless, not rationally justiable. In between the signs, from 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 3 to 4, and so on, is a sign of (n+1)th type, while a single sign, 1, 2, 3, ... is of the nth type. This is the undecidable quality in the formal system of natural numbers.

loop and repeats itself within a xed system, it will become a manufacturing/ reproduction type one that only knows either on or off like an automaton. The other pattern is in the wave, where repetition patterns overlap and the details cannot be dened as nite edges, where it has some living tissue (energy) / genome (life). As an open-system is exible, open-minded, and quick; it requires a logic of thinking appropriate to a dangerous situation: if someone is going to be killed by a car in the next two seconds, in order to save the persons life, someone must be able to think fast enough before being killed, and so must use his/her senses rather than the reason. Often, giving the reason involves hesitation and delay, which is dangerous when it comes to making a saving move.

Each class of basic signs is never the same as the other class of basic signs, e.g. (Diagram 2) in between 1 to 2, and 2 to 3, and so on are all different cells of operation. The studies of the complexity of feedback loops and recursive patterns show that they are created from open systems of process. The processes of overlapping, interacting, adding, deleting, passing, etc., are predicted by unpredictable nervous system operations. Thus, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, ... and so on involves interacting, adding, deleting, and overlapping.

THINKING ABOUT AN OPEN STRUCTURE WITH NUMBERING

1 23456789101234567891012345678910123456789101234567891012

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 When it is non-linear, it can also be described as a wave pattern. This may or may not be right, but the condition of preparation is in a recursive operation where there is never completeness. If the recursive pattern is in a mechanical 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0

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1 2 1 2 1234567891012345678910123456789101 23456

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 1 12345678

12345678

12345678

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

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Nothing to interpret Nothing to discuss Nothing to analyze Nothing to explain

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take-no-action

The foundation of visual geometry is the surface, not the point. Jorge Luis Borges

What if there are no lines, no connection points, what would we do with the surfaces? The surface (environment/air/space/volume)

Visual geometry is not about the point or line, but the surface Look at the surface. What are the surface?

non-thingness

Preparation has reached 41, I am your anti-matter.

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VIDEO Untitled (2011) Li-E Chen

Action on Nothing and Not Knowing - Preparation has reached 41, I am your anti-matter. Conceived at the Improbable DandD Satellite: What are we going to do about IMPRO? Council Chamber, Battersea Arts Centre, London. Filmed after the DandD Satellite in September, 2011.

Click on image to watch video or click here for web link

bio

Li-E Chen
Li-E Chen was born in Chaozhou, part of the Guangdong province of China, and lived in Hong Kong before moving to London (UK) in 1997. She has a BA in Alternative Theatre Practice from the Central School of Speech and Drama, and an MA in Media Arts Philosophy and Practice from the University of Greenwich (supervised by Professor Johnny Golding), receiving distinctions for both degrees. In 2004, Chen took part in Teamworks, a three-year new media theatre project supported by the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts as part of the National Theatres Art of Regeneration programme. In 2008-2009 she participated in a creative leadership programme, Step Change, supported by National Theatre, Royal Opera House, Battersea Arts Centre, Young Vic and Cultural Leadership Programme. Recently, she has been selected for the 21st Century Leadership programme run by Battersea Arts Centre and in collaboration with Watershed and The Sage Gateshead (UK).

Chens artistic practice is interdisciplinary, and over the last ten years her work has examined forms, disciplines and concepts from across the ne, performing and media arts. She aims to create arts and performance that lie beyond the functional, political, traditional, historical, and representational, and that make no reference to self, memory, identity, or meaning. Her work uses a diverse array of experimental approaches, including: numerical art; print and digital archives; installations; gesture and movement; dance; sound art; durational laboratory; interactive media, video and online artwork; scientic, mathematical and relational art forms; and performance in written, spoken and performed text. Chen has always been fascinated by arts and performance that express independence, openness and incompleteness, and she has inspired by the works of Robert Wilson, Techching Hsieh, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Kurt Godel, Tadeusz Kantor, Harold Pinter and Improbable. In 2011 she returned to her early inuences of interdisciplinary arts practice, working to create the durational laboratory on nothing at the Siobhan Davies Studios, London, where she collaborated with artists Victoria Gray and Bean.

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Bean

C HAPTER 6

durational live writing

]performancespace[ @aplaceofaction
Written by artist Bean @aplaceofaction on the occasion of Cloud Clock Love, a Two-day Durational Lab on Nothing, online event curated by Li-E Chen. (19 hours Unedited-documentation, including live Twitter and Facebook updates)

C l o u d C l o c k L o v e 3 - 4 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 1 . Siobhan Davies Studios, London, UK.

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Preperation has reached: 50 9 X Preperation ANTI ANTI ANTI ANTI ANTI ANTI ANTI ANTI ANTI Cutting + Reading 1 Ss sun opens pausing at pens pushing these at footing. Flat footing. Flat. Flat. 0. 0. 11. Retrun to grey. Air 0 Folding T-shits Unfolding cables. Returning to 0. Start 0. 11 22 33 44 11 22 = 22 33 = -55 44 = 99 (almost nothing. this is not perfect, not complete, not nothing) it is not empty enough man with one sock up, tries to draw 0 Prep 24. Prep 40. Prep 37. (Prep 21) Prep 28. Prep 29. Prep 49. Prep 46. Prep 39. Li E circles nothing speaking nothing tongues of nothing not nothing reels of not nothing triping not nothing stumbles not nothing sounds not nothing left LEFT. ADD AND + ADD AND + ADD AND +

Green Blue Red Green Yellow 33 wants to think. People are choosing envelopes that match their clothes. I dont understand your voice or your trousers. 56 performs the experiment. 56 over Ss. 12345678910. 12345678910.12345678910. 12345678910. Bodies pressed. Ok. 12345678910. 12345678910. Ok. I dont know either. 12345678910. 12345678910. Ok. Ok. I dont know either. 12345678910. 12345678910. 12345678910. Ok. Ok. 12345678910. 12345678910. 12345678910. Ok. I dont know either. The t-shirt is too small 43. Prep reaches 13. I must perform. Nothing Political. Nothing Political. (with police sirens). 33 is stamping nothing political small steps are nothing political masking tape is nothing political tearing tape/ folding body into 0. 0 political. Mutterings of nothing. The only word I know. Did you say M14? 5/6/7/8

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+7 = nothing (letting the outside in will not lead to nothing) Prep 42. hold. Structure of whole numbers. Structures within structures. The structure of 3 is a collection of random numbers. I wish I could here you. The structure of 2 is simple whole numbers. The structure of one is nothing. O sound over bodies sound divided by bodies sound devides bodies 0 white 0 grey 0 = nothing nothing = grey All the bodies move super slow. The fan is violent. Masking tape sticks to nothing of the air. Air is nothing. breath. Amplied air. Amplify the nothing. take it away and there is nothing. Prep 53. PERFORM! | || David

||||||| ||||||||| ||||||||||| Head | || David |||| ||||| Opening |||||||| ||||||||| Around ||||||||| ||||||||||| Booty | || David I am lost. | || David |||| ||||| Le ||||||| ||||||| Around ||||||||||| ||||||||| Booty 1003! THIS MAN IS HERE HEAR. I like this man and his sounds. Back resting. Pushing to nd what is nothing. To highlight the gap or the non gap to make the gap visible. To make nothing visible. Why is a circle nothing. what is zero. Why is a circle whole. Why is complete nothing. What is empty. Is nothing everything. Everying is going in circles and echoing of each other. Sounds circling. The body is so full. 14 15 28 9 7 -7 looking (3 HOURS = CHANGE)

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3 is a collection of random numbers. Ki I always hear 33. You must stop now When is nothing how you must stop now can you reference you must stop now anything to the page there is nothing you can reference to refer to structure the structure of 3 the structure of 1. structure within the structure bodies on structure construct Braille note: Looking at each other. Looking for nothing. The act (ion) of 0 Does it always take 2? How to dissolve How do you make something from nothing. How do you get from something to nothing. (Prep 6. I am your anti-matter.) Do less. You are attracted to the unknown but as soon as it is known to you you are not attracted to it.

Some thing like the radio times. Do less. (Prep 13. Sounds like found bound grow) take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take take walking aggressively into nothing. Turn up(s) testosterone. Shouting with marker pens. Number 6 scares me. Gray has one arm in the air (again) she sushes us. turning into nothing. inside and outside. clothed air enclosed in nothing dancing with the ether. 4 2 oor 1 tocking on the microphone 1 wait 1 point 1 voice angular and awkward and large forever. Take/Grow/ 11 22 33 44 like big brother. Staring context. Nothing political / Everything Politcial. Take 13. Take forever. Take time. Take my heart wondering nothing. Take bounds to grow. Take it all. Take all of this. Take soul. Take my. Take hand/foot. Take my. Take her. Take some of this. Take the outside in. Take that 1995 greatest hits. (give give give) feet on womb throat murmers reaching to tap for something hairy fans staring at leafs cabled ngers sun lines one line uncrumpled

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the mic stand extends her body and the music swings them on 12341223456 12345678123412234561234567812341234562345678123412345623456781234 23456123456781234234561234567823412345612345678234123456123456782 341234562345678234123456234567812345678123412345612342341234234 preparation has reached 34 and we are anti matter 2345623455678123423456 and I am confused. chaos. paired paper ripping through and on chaos. 1 2 slam 1 2 slam 1 2 slam 1 2 slam 1 2 nothing drum rolls. empty. empty at last (THIS GAP IS SO BIG) The 2nd of life The death The minutes The time Rolled up 0 t-shirt revealing gray. Gray = 0 (THIS GAP IS SO BIG) I am the number 26: I am your anti matter. It does not matter. 0 = focus Prep reached 28 + nothing: I have just received a silly number. He gangles. She unfolds and stacks the on her body, massing over grey. A massed. They dont want a new number. Prep reached 37: hold on 1 second.

(clock stop cock still) amassed over grey is pushing the excess out the window. She loves Gray. Gray has one arm in the air (again) she sushes us. Tearing paper microphones (again) and the fan is perpetual. Perpetually fanning nothing. I think the fan is clever. She blows nothing with her legs open and rocking. Staring at 0. 0 = nothing. Her voice so small and sharp I cant understand it. Knees together step away from the microphone. Mega. 11 22 33 44 blue circle chases pink circle in circles led by the suffocated grey. 11 22 33 44 2 arms like 2 11 22 33 44 2 irting and talking 11 22 33 44 2 join (1 + 1 = 2) note: this is making more not nothing slapping patterns 360 whole turns everywhere turning nothing in something grey (covered by 28 now) tracing steps muttering numbers in mad repetition feet leading voice/ voice leading feet. take lead into nothing. left and right/ one and two/ in every way she does this. Alone in madness. This is grey. Grey = 0. 26 but cheeks. Screwing numbers. Brake. And it has changed. she is writing on the oor I am not writing the structure of 3. 12345678910 12345678910 12345 (ding ding) 12345678910 OK OK I dont know its humid and still. pushing through this nothing. (ding) nothing political is separation

86

(ding) nothing political is preparation condition dragging numbers wrapped in clothes like a cats arse emptiness itches. searching for 0 thousands and thousand of bumps like molecules inside body numbers like a map inside body like mushroom touch the texture spots rough rough soft sandpaper its nice thumb me my cracks into language of some kind understanding just nice turning again again again like my mumble this repetition were not going anywhere going somewhere because going nowhere I like bumps bumps bumps share the bumps a tiny world of bumps single me out the bumps shaking out the numbers wrapped in clothes this bump bump of nothing talks of something maybe nothing maybe maybe papered bumps cut a story t-shirt on head down cover number place this bump place turning bumps the number stack turning and turning and turning it it becomes becoming nothing becoming something something becoming nothing is the microphone tired of been spoken to its not just an announcer it is it is it is body say body speak the microphone its own body own molecules stretching out 39 with feet 39 bounds legs 39 is up 39 is ready this is a playground of anonymous numbered bodies preparing with hands over ears you i can t hear you she is wearing the numbers as trousers - 49 is deant everything is always about circles 0 = nothing 0 = everything 0 the projection the fan the felt tip 0 (i feel we are getting closer to nothing) we keep trying to do nothing and it keeps becoming something this grey body of 0 circling the microphone catching the fan. So slowly moving cant help the moving. Reverbs cut through fans stream of nothing.

Prepartion 29: (she cant help herself) this is not boat They have to make noise to know theyre alive 49 wears it as a mask. He is a line (1) but the most 0 Prep 33: think. This is not a boat. This is not a boat. Beyond life the life beyond beyond life the life beyond beyond life the life beyond. 33 the grey one is not living up to her name. must try harder. Or less. Grey = 0 mic cable lapping and slapping in circles to contain or release or be nothing 00000000000000000000 0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0| hand traces obsession Crouching in the corner they are hiding and making nothing 53 actually 43 13 experiment 43 individual 48 individual 35 talking now of nothing nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult

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nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult

nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult

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nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult

nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult nothing is difcult this perpetual 11 22 33 44 staring down at us pointing out what we know pointing out what we cant do pointing out failure pointing at us pointing at nothing I will print to point out our failings. 12345678910 OK I DONT KNOW NOTHING POLITICAL NOTHING POLITICAL N O T H I N G P O L I T I C A L MMMM MMMM M M M M M M M M M M M M M 15 15 one the boy in the sun half in half out stiring trees stuck in the nothing 32 the nothing speaks more than the microphone 40 15 such intent 4 thought 40 30 thought. he is joined and left and joined again. recording nothing. no 15. 15 on. Waving and smiling at outside with microphone st. I am poised. 15 40. Give it to me. 15 40. You tease. 8. I want something. 4/thought 15 a 15 o 15 30 15 40. Begging. 30 40. The longest. duce (2) advantage. me (you) cracking the mic again the fan again the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan the fan i t i s f i l l i n g u s u p t h e s p a c e u p s o f u l l i n e m p t y Brake.

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MM tells me about zero 0 in the sand On return |0 . . at peace what is madness automatic takes over levitating in humidity pencil shades the body. REPEAT. to rest. Im mesmerized by the pencil I wish I could type its pattern and sound. how do you say a pencil colouring in. its reaching ngers. Again a lot of looking. The structure of 3. This repetition of numbers. Its counting, recording moments of nothing. penetrating empty. braking or making. It commands our attention and compels action. numeric mantras. penetrating empty numeric mantras The sum of zero and zero is zero. 1 he has completed himself. 0 is complete. 0 is nothing. 0 (nothing) is complete. 0 (nothing) is everything. everything is nothing (0). 0 (nothing) is everything. cartwheeling to cut time. back to circles. circles of nothing. circles to make something. cartwheeling to cut time. back to circles. circles of nothing. circles to make something. cartwheeling to cut time. back to circles. circles of nothing. circles to

make something. cartwheeling to cut time. back to circles. circles of nothing. circles to make something. cartwheeling to cut time. back to circles. circles of nothing. circles to make something. FAIL The numbers are ordered folded as a line numbers are lineal | is straight THIS IS WHY WE DREW THE CIRCLE IN THE SAND 0 negative and complete whole and empty just 31 the fan the paper fan the number fan 11 22 33 44 folding and (un)folding each other. Repetition is key.

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Prep 50. 9 + and 9 and 9 and 9 and time and time and night and nigh and night. Back written back. 11 off return to off. 32 -55 -19 almost nothing this is not working not nothing. 4 zero. 27.1 .49 46 breath circles nothing speaking not nothing tripling not nothing sounds nothing left left at at plus at at plus at bring through bring yellow people dont understand there trousers 56 over 122345678910 123245678910 12345678910 audience pressed . OK 12345678910 12345678910 OK. I dont know either 12345678910 12345678910 OK OK I dont know either 12345678910 123455678910 12345678910 OK OK 12345678910 123456789010 12345678910 OK I dont know either to small cant reach I must nothing political 33 is stamping nothing political nothing political tearing tape folding into zero zero political did you say m14 5 678 + 7 lets outside in create 42 holes structure structure of 3 is a collection of random numbers the structure 2 is 1 is nothing 0 same same bodies 0 bodies 0whiote nothing nothing all bodies nothing must number air nothing breath nothing taking too way take it heads heads opening arrive david im lost 1 0 0 3 here hear I like this moon and sun invisible invisible why is it political invisible political invisible political voice not touching microphone passing over if I eat a biscuit it goes round inside my head now I hear you take take take take take walking turn up sushing the fan is over take world 11 22 33 44 staring tip time tip it all tip 10 tip 9 tip 1 tip 4 tip tip tip feet on wall hairy string cable ngers the volume 123456 123456789 12341233567123456781234123456234568781378123456235678135334561234 56781234523456212345678234123456123456782341234561234567823451234 5623456782341234562345678123456781234123456123423412342341 population has reached 34 and we are at a maximum 234556234556712342345678nothing complete forest paired paper rhythmic 12 sound 12sound 12 sound 12 18 at last this gap is now so big the 2nd of lif the death the t-shirt opposite the 0 the number traces it does not want to the 0 nothing a have just received a silly number on the phone a bobbin i dont want a new number we reached 37 hold on a second clock stop grey is pushing acid up she loves the way shhh ass do you have more paper factory staring at 0 at 0 at 0 the world is so small I cant understand it the problem is what is useful. just being.

is zero just being. is that possible? How will we know and if we realize will it not be 0 anymore? Is it a collective effort? Does everyone have to be just being for us to be nothing. Why do we want to be nothing. Is this possible? What is zero? Why does it matter? 31 moves away from the fan and folds-up. BackBlackBack. There is no one here is this nothing? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing 46 = nothing nothing but what is left. Readings of actions. The act of reading. Reading is active. Reading is productive. Reading a product or produce. Reading is words. Words were symbols. The rst symbol was 0. 1st 0. 1 0. 0 before |. Focus lost. But 1 remains. 1 man. 1. 24 anti matter 37 all honesty 21 I am 29 hold on 49 I am anti matter 46 I am a fawn 47 automatic binary long at feet bone pokes on oor. bone contact. |0 un-nerves-memory the difference between speaking to each other and amplied without you MAN = 1 individual binary requests anti matter perform on

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13 perform individual hold on anti matter I am your anti matter hold on individual +0 hold on to seconds I m yours perform experiment request binary EXPECTATIONS SOLO FELT-TIP SOUNDS OUT THE SPACE 11 44 33 22 44 66 88 12 12 16 14 17 it doesnt work 14

18 16 18 16 20 18 20 18 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22

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33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11

44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33

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11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22

33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11 44 22 33 11

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44 22 33 copy & paste. rhythm. Number sequence pattern/ nature/ biologic/ logic. commanding clock/ commanding feet/ commanding keys. dakness drawing outside/ drawing together/ drawing circles all day/ drawing nothing moon 0 sun 0 nothing 0 mouth 0 sticking nothing to nothing. we are all compelled. 46 marks time. (Gray 4+6 = 10, 1+0 = 1) now there is 1 + 0 solitary 1 + 0 together 10 collections of nothing still the fan reminds us there is not nothing here. is nothing the end it started with 0 is 0 the end it started with nothing sound we go into it | || ||| |||| disolve I should do less Do nothing

For everything For nothing You cant describe nothing/ inscribe is something One, 1, dances circles of 11 22 33 44 1 dancing with 0 it is a story of love 10 cloud clock love inescapable INESCAPABLE NUMBERS ARE EVERYTHING SHE DANCES THE BEGINNING OF THIS LOVE ANNIHILATES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antimatter 00|00|00|00|00|00|00|00|00|00|00 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PositronDiscovery.jpg DAY TWO: START from the breakfast table. By bringing and consuming have I reduced our chances of returning to zero; must we be empty. zero functioned as a mere placeholder wombs of nothing Bitting lips towards 0 body is zero placeholder they return, pace space selecting numbers, marking no thing

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striped down chest 36: I m your anti matter Preperation: 1. The action of making ready or being made ready for use. 2. Something done to get ready for an event or undertaking. Use: 1. Employforsomepurpose;putintoservice;makeuseof nothing 2. Toavailoneselfof;applytoonesownpurposes nothing 3. Toexpendorconsumenothing 4. Totreatorbehavetowards nothing 5. Totakeunfairadvantageof nothing 36 + man 36 +1 = 37 3 + 7 = 10 10 = two bodies, 1 0 Action 51: no records match this request Action 50 + nothing 51 + 50 = 101 1 0 1 = two men and Li E chen Man Li Man Their ngers cant help but mark. Inscribe, addressing with dedication. Fingering hair. Trying to un-do/ not-do, nothing. Informally twopersons,noteinand on. Beyond surfaces, words,characters.

Draw, delineate one gure (1) within another 0 the inner lies withintheboundariesof theother,touchingitatasmanypointsaspossible. They are nothing with no records, yet attempt to score something of nothing. 51 under his shadow. His shadow of yesterday: Im mesmerized by the pencil I wish I could type its pattern and sound. how do you say a pencil colouring in. its reaching ngers. Text message from Michael Mayhew: The Nothing that is a natural history of zero Robert Kaplan. The synchronicity continues. HELLO HELLO IT IS VERY GREY NOW. GREY = 0 ACTION 26: Im your anti matter/ soft/ honest/ 1 0 baryogenesis / diagonally collided/ is this it. Asymmetric in everyway. 36 shadow 50 NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER

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NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER NUMBER BLACK NUMBER NUMBER 1 1 1 1 rain rods/ rain drops/ rain puddle 1 into 0 looking for/ at 0 is impossible surely? looking is (un)doing what has been done in nothing

change moments. (in) direct (un) direct. RED arrives does not take on number. Remains RED. Small RED dot. Small RED 0. Small RED . small . sm . s . black 0 window out-in in-on on-out on to there their theyre three free 3 interference the energy the mass of my body would interefer. Braking. Distance. Paraminters. Boundaries. Critical mass. The tipping point. The typing. Weight. BLACK DOT WEIGHT BLACK DOT WEIGHT BLACK DOT WEIGHT speak of volume in silence 11 mutterings 1,1 RED 0 SOMETHING respect less. Theyre forming numbers 11 (1, 1) (36+50) with shadow rules: ORDERING NOTHING, COMMAND NOTHING, GENTLY NOTHING. So grey melt into grey into oor grey grey nothing dissolve feet into brain numbers lost logic logically numbering thoughts into still actions bodies like 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 which is nothing which is what they are 1 how can 2 1 ones get to be nothing what about zero 0. 0. its all about the 1 1. Red dot does not engage

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engage is bad frictions reaction relation kinesthetic energy masses ammmes to more make more make more make more must be making less destruction destruction Metzger. (14:42) METZGER http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Metzger 22 64 83 49 02 42 4 002 Brake: Recording Recordings: the authority to make noicse tonmside sileience is not tnothing 0 is tnot a sosunfd wabev the authority to make noise sounc silience is not nothing notihgint 0 iis anot authoruaty toiiis myw does it alwatys come back to authorutyuy thje the suthority to to do nothing to sdo less who owns nothing the sero the sero can have now nouewnertshitp beciause it has no avalue thewother than the vbalue than tislicence and avolucment and auautiority and zero is nothing zero 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 is everything thie has the most value no one a can own that it is the most valuable so thwne say zero is nothing 0 is nothing it is ac tual everything it is fso FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL how to dget tfrom FUL FILLL FULL to mnothing to empty what is empty haow mempty thoughts it sit posiubbble allways thoughts all blodd lomivoement all ways asmenergy a cccant no enerygyg. the authority to make noise to make silence silence is not nothing 0 is not a sound wave the authority to make noise sound silence is not nothing nothing 0 is not authority to my does it always come back to authority the the authority to to do nothing to do less who owns nothing the zero the zero can have now ownership because it has no value the other than the value than it is silence and movement and authority and zero is nothing zero 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 is everything the has the most value no one a can own that it is the most valuable so they say zero is nothing 0 is nothing it is actually everything it is so FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL FULL how to get from FULL FULL FULL to nothing to empty what is empty how empty thoughts it is possible all ways thoughts all blood movement all ways asymmetry a cant no energy.

RETURN: deny oneself everything. deny one self every thing one independently doing nothing/ you do nothing together. He has become 32. Recording nothing with beaky camera suit. 36 bangs I am here into shadow. Pushing heads. I keep returning to heads pushing on surfaces.

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Singing under his shadow, this 1 is good at 0 Obsessed with recording incase nothing happened and we missed it. Walking circles into 0 0 is circle return 0 is circle return your closeness now draws a line 1 of what is between us and you. Numbers. Champions of nothing. humming and walking circles. Cant escape movement. Is nothing an act or thought. Coding Codepending a ock of numbers hair repeat hair repeat this doesnt mean anything ock half of total 1/2 my voice is banging round the room SHOUTING NOTHING AND FAILING. us all. END

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bio

Bean
Bean is an artist of nomadic nature. Currently based in London, Bean is founder of ]performance s p a c e [, a newly established studio and project space in Hackney Wick. As director of ]performance s p a c e [ she has curated work by emergent and established artists with a wide spectrum of live practices. ]performance s p a c e [ aims to cultivate live work that critically and physically pushes the boundaries of body and space. It is a place where work can unfold without restraints of curation, duration or space, and it is committed to supporting challenging and difcult work that embraces performance art as an ever-evolving medium. Beans artistic practice stems from obsessive, paranoid, scientic and anthropological research. Her work has been described as deliberately accidental, scattered, scuffed, blurry and incomplete. Oscillating between the poles of violence/meditation, power/control and movement/home, it revels in the feral actions, inscriptions and fringe existence of the nomadic body. Currently focused on the inscription of her esh, as an act of both reclaiming and disowning her body as material. The marking of the tattoo acts as the work and its documentation; questioning notions of performance as a bracketed event, the lines between art and life, the durational and the temporary. Bean has presented work in Europe, Australia and Asia including Performer Stammtish (Berlin), Red Ape (Plymouth), New Zero Art Space (Myanmar), OUI performance (York), Epipiderme (Lisbon), ArtOn (Madrid), Performance Matters: Trashing Performance Symposium (London), 11 11 11 (Manchester), Bone Festival (Bern)

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aoife collins

C HAPTER 7

Mangetout (01)
giclee print, 63 cm x 76 cm/24.8 in x 29.9 in

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Mangetout (02)
giclee print, 63 cm x 76 cm/24.8 in x 29.9 in

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Mangetout (03)
giclee print, 63 cm x 76 cm/24.8 in x 29.9 in

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Mangetout (04)
giclee print, 63 cm x 76 cm/24.8 in x 29.9 in

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Mangetout (05)
giclee print, 63 cm x 76 cm/24.8 in x 29.9 in

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Downward Social Mobility

Downward social mobility (excerpt), audio cut onto vinyl played on auto repeat record player, dimensions variable

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bio

Aoife Collins
Aoife Collinss work uses appropriated commonplace mass-produced objects and images that have been altered, manipulated or copied. The works focus on fragmentation and destruction, the to-ing and fro-ing between the denite and innite. Close attention is given to the ability of objects to role-play. This use of role-play or mutability, away from intended functionality, is an attempt to open up the realm of possibility or potentiality of the objects and materials explored. A great deal of the work consists of re-assemblage; form and function are not considered nal but rather can be altered and are open to the suggestion of permutations. Much of the work looks towards a form of breakdown or collapse, with the images or associated meanings melting away. Notions of background and foreground or an exploration of the dominant and submissive image on a simultaneous picture plane are themes which are approached in the works. 108
Collins received a BA from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, followed by an MA from Chelsea College of Art and Design, London. Selected residencies include Location One, New York; Skowhegan, USA, and Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Scotland. Selected exhibitions include There is No Release My Darling, The Process Room at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; With Words Like Smoke, Chelsea Space, London; Altered

Sequence, E:vent, London; Lost in your eyes,Form Content, London; Wet eye,Location One, New York;Culture clash,Working Rooms, London;Comfort burn, Artspace, Buffalo; Phoenix park, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin; ev

+a, Limerick; Prelapsarian/here-and-now/postlapsarian, Goethe Institute, Dublin;Perspective,Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, andPermaculture,Project Gallery, Dublin.

will fung

C HAPTER 8

A NNETTE F RY - C LOUD C LOCK L OVE - R OOF S TUDIO ,

SIOBHAN DAVIES STUDIOS , LONDON , UK ,

3-4

SEPTEMBER

2011

nothing , something must have happened

Nothing, not a thing From the beginning, there was nothing. Not only in the Bibles point of view, but also from the Buddhist religion, Chinese Martial Art Tai Chi, Western Philosophy, academical Physics, even advanced Astronomy! As there was nothing, something must be happened in order to let the everything appears as what we have today.

The most amazing mystery above all of the everything is Love. It begins from nothing since our rst collision. After a long chain of reactions, under the chemicals of love it started to grow. Love is so great! It has no boundary. It has no limit to eternity. If you ask me what is love, Ill tell you: LOVE is Lots Of Volunteering on Everything! Willing to do anything and sacrice everything is the way to love. It is the most valuable thing that grows from nothing! And it is also the destination of the whole life! It is the only solution to prevent the

Everything has an opposite: Advantages versus Disadvantages, South versus North, West versus East, Matter versus Antimatter, Female versus Male, Delighted versus Upset, Yin versus Yang, and so on The two sides are always ghting for their territories in order to maintain an equilibrium.

entire universe from going back to nothing from the everything we share nowadays

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bio

Will Fung

Will Fung was born in Hong Kong, and graduated with a degree in Pharmaceutical Technology. He is an art and music lover, but not an artist, dreamed to be special but nothing special at all... Life is like this, anyway. But a happy ordinary life is precious too.

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indigo j l

C HAPTER 9

Dragon Coconut and the Monster Rabbit by Indigo J L

Click screen to watch the animation or click here for web link

Indigos rst animation lm takes you on an adventure with Dragon Coconut and his friends ... (6 mins)

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bio

Indigo J L

Indigo J L is a ve and half year old lm maker from Vienna/London.

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What is next...

1 year lab - september 2012 to september 2013 An open durational laboratory for anyone who is interested in taking part...

for more information, please visit http://aspaceonnothing.tumblr.com

1 year lab - september 2012 to september 2013 An open laboratory . .

What is it

WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS, WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN I WANT TO DO THE KIND OF WORKS THAT NO-ONE UNDERSTANDS WHAT I AM DOING

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1 year lab - september 2012 to september 2013 An open laboratory . .

Who

BYLi-E Chen& WHOEVER PARTICIPATES IN IT

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1 year lab - september 2012 to september 2013 An open laboratory . .

Where

]performance s p a c e [ Unit 6Hamlet Industrial Estate White Post Lane London E95EN Google Map

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1 year lab - september 2012 to september 2013 An open laboratory . .

When

. . 1 year laboratory on nothing TAKING PLACE ON THE LAST SATURDAY of EVERY MONTH - SEPTEMBER 2012 to SEPTEMBER 2013 With details and dates to follow: Sign up a reminder email

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1 year lab - september 2012 to september 2013 An open laboratory . .

Register

REGISTER

The one-year laboratory is free for everyone If you are interested in taking part, please registerhere.

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Contact

Li-E Chen | London-based Independent Chinese Artist | UK Transdisciplinary - Art - Performance - New Media For more any enquires, please email info@liechen.com, or call +44 (0) 7946420467 or twitter @1212360

SUBMIT YOUR COMMENT

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C LOUD C LOCK L OVE , R OOF S TUDIO ,

SIOBHAN DAVIES STUDIOS , LONDON , UK ,

3-4

SEPTEMBER

2011