Serving time with performance art

Six Posters and Statements [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

It's an extreme way to get people to think about time, but extremity is oftentimes the cornerstone of performance art. Sometimes the action rather than the message serves as the genre's greatest detractor while at the same time functioning as its main attraction.

Some well-known examples include Joseph Beuys talking to a dead animal for his piece Explaining Pictures to a Dead Hare to Carolee Schneemanns's Meat Joy which featured dancing performers covered with raw meat and paint, and then there’s US artist Chris Burden who had his assistant shoot him in the arm at close range with a handgun for his performance piece Shoot.

"Among all of the artworks I know of, this one tests the willpower of the artist the most, said Bao Dong, an independent curator in Beijing.

Bao told China Daily, "As a Chinese artist, his influence reached the mainland at a very early age and it had a stimulating influence on the development of China’s performing arts in 1990's."

Since the 1990s performance art in China has made rapid advancements. "This work in particular has been influential on Chinese artists for the last twenty years ever since it was introduced to the mainland artistic community in the early 90's and so we thought for that reason it would be quite interesting to finally bring it (Time Clock Piece) here and show it in all it's glory," said Tinari.

Hsieh's work has been shown on the Chinese mainland before, but this is the first time it has been presented in a solo format rather than as part of a group show.

Tinari is optimistic regarding how Hsieh's work will be received in Beijing. "I hope this exhibition will be comprehensible to its audience and on the level of the art world, and I hope that people will be happy to finally have a chance to see something they've been hearing about for twenty years," Tinari added.

Time Clock Piece ends August 25.

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lance@chinadaily.com.cn