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Room (2) Walk
2022-2023
Single-channel HD video, color, sound
16 minutes 25 seconds

Yao Qingmei is fascinated by the rhythmic legwork of professional swing dancer Jean-Charles. He explores the full range of his walking capabilities within the confines of a small, narrow hotel room. When fatigued and needing rest, Jean-Charles reclines on a slender sofa. Here, he is asked to relinquish the controlled theatrical expressions of his body, adopting a more slumped posture instead. He visualizes his body as a room that someone enters through his fingers. The movement starts with subtle, nearly invisible motions at his fingertips, sending pulses that travel through his elongated frame, resonating from within. In a close-up, the dancer’s face transitions from involuntary twitches to increasingly pronounced grimaces. Throughout, Yao Qingmei portrays an enigmatic identity; initially dressed like a conventional business traveler, Jean-Charles soon reveals himself as a man driven by rhythm.

 

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«Room» series

In « Room «, Yao Qingmei collaborateswith five contemporary dancers andperformers, gathered successively in thesame standardized hotel room to explorethe space. All have different physiques,genders, ages and skin tones, andpractice different types of dance. YaoQingmei maintains the diversity of thedancers’ profiles, subtly capturing theindividuality of each and guiding theirphysical expressions, urging them toexplore the various angles of an enclosedspace. These experiences are born of the artist’spersonal observations and perceptionsof the details of the hotel room during hisisolation in 2021 in Shanghai. Yao seeksan empathetic physical experiencedrawn from the improvisations of bodiesin the «room». This place refers notonly to a confined space, but also to apsychological one. This video seriesis the most reality-related part of the«mole» exhibition, a true testament tothe physical expression of dancers inan enclosed space, where the freedom,agility and diversity of the bodiesthemselves transcend the physical limitsof space and stereotypes.

Room 5 Flesh

肉, Chair

Room 4 Rub

拭, Frotter

Room 3 Observ

观, Observer

Room 2 Walk

行, Marcher

Room 1 Wrap

裹, Draper

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