The Third Verse of the Internationale Sung Solo in Monaco
2012
Video, performance documentation
12 min 30 sec

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Yao Qingmei installed loudspeakers on the roof of a car and drove along the Formula 1 circuit of the Principality of Monaco. During the journey, she repeatedly sang the third verse of The Internationale, a lesser-known yet highly relevant verse addressing economic inequality:

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“The state oppresses and the law cheats,
Taxes bleed the poor man white;
No duties are imposed on the rich,
The poor man's rights are but empty words;
Enough of languishing in tutelage,
Equality wants other laws:
"No rights without duties," it says,
"Equals, no duties without rights!"”

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Through this “one-person procession,” Yao Qingmei sought to expose the stark and irreconcilable conflict between the lyrics and Monaco’s status as a tax haven for the wealthy. She was soon stopped by two police officers, and their exchange was recorded. In this interrogative conversation, both the police and the artist deployed their own forms of language to probe the boundaries between art and politics, discussing the political nature of art (and what is considered art), as well as the limits of speech within public space.

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Performor: YAO Qingmei
Date: le 16 Mars 2012

The route: Monaco Grand Prix circuit The performance starts at 12:30 pm, at the start of the circuit (Bd Albert 1er) Participants and Witnesses: Jedrzej ， Anne-Sophie ， Agathe ， Fahd ， Subei