One Hour Occupy Parking Art

Archive, installation, 2015

Yao Qingmei’s work ‘One Hour Occupy Parking Art’ encompassed a sequence of one-hour long daily interventions into the confines of a parking space near to Paradise - an art center. By occupying the parking space an hour each day, she tried not only to reconfigure its use as both a public space, but also provocatively sought to frame the site as an extension of the art space itself. The space was with a length of 5.81m, a width of 1.83m and covers an area about 10.7 m². The parking fee was 1.4 EUR per hour and free for Sundays. 

Her performance and actions transmitted between the functional and the ceremonious to the absurd, which included, and were not limited to ribbon cutting marking the One Hour Occupy Parking Art’s opening ceremony, installing a landline telephone; hiring security and sanitary stuff, having meals, amongst other encounters with the public. These actions were documented in the form of video, photographs, parking bills (with date and time), and a video recording the occupation.  

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During the period of the project, documents related to the parking space were updated in the interior exhibition space. All the items applied and created during the performance became the components of a car-shaped sculpture. Yao Qingmei delivered a speech standing on the sculpture on the closing ceremony.

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If you want to download this work ( pdf ) , please send me a email （ yaoqingmei@hotmail.com) for the password:​

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