Eggs and High Walls, Durational Performance/Intervention, Transmission Gallery and the Outside Space of the institution in Glasgow, Scotland, 2019.

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I walked in the streets of Glasgow searching for exterior walls, interior walls, pillars, doors of institutions, such as those of important art museums, and galleries. I have put some eggs in my underclothes and pockets, and I would take them out and stick them between my forehead and the exterior walls, and carefully hold them using my forehead so that they would not fall. 

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The high walls symbolize a kind of system. A system is a vast functional organism, one that has already infiltrated into our lives, an invisible fence surrounding us, controlling every aspect of our being. What I meant to say is that this is not a matter of judging what is right or wrong, what’s more, important is that we become aware of the presence of the system and try to look for its traces and logic, to keep reflecting and seeking, and to establish deeper connections with the Other and the world through this process. Also, it is necessary to maintain this kind of confrontation, for the sake of oneself, of others, and of the minorities. This project will continue in other cities and countries. 

 

Notes:

The title comes from a Haruki Murakami speech when he won the Jerusalem Prize. He said: ‘There is a name for the high wall: the System. The System is supposed to protect us, but sometimes it kills us or makes us kill others - cruelly, efficiently, and systematically - as it wishes. We are all humans, despite our nationality, ethnicity, and religions; we are all eggs in front of this high wall. It looks like we have no hope of winning, for the wall is so tall, so hard, and so cold. If we have some kind of hope, it will only come from our beliefs in the irreplaceability of ours’ and others’ souls and the warm union of these souls. …. Please think like this: each one of us holds in our hands a living soul, which the System does not have. Don’t let the system utilize us; don’t let it do what it wishes. The system didn’t create us - on the contrary, we created it.’

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Camera by Wei Zhang.

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