Moving art performance covers 1,660 km
By Lu Feiran |
June 3, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
IT looks like a big mobile on wheels. Black and white balls plus red, blue and yellow orbs, cubes and pyramids move and rotate atop a traditional Chinese tricycle or sanlunche in a piece of kinetic art that has traveled 1,500 km from Beijing to Shanghai.
And what does this contraption mean? Well, it's about yin, yang, the butterfly effect and the universe - just about everything.
This colorful construct in a big black frame is the work of French visual artist Niko de La Faye and both artist and tricycle art arrived Tuesday evening, after a 39-day journey from Beijing to the XiYiTang Gallery in Shanghai's Huangpu District.
Along the way, the intriguing project drew countless curious stares, quite a few laughs and created a bit of traffic disruption. De La Faye avoided big highways and mountainous areas. Some cops posed for photos and said it was cool.
Fortunately, the tricycle is motorized and de La Faye travels with a Chinese assistant known as Stonesun and other Chinese friends. They pack camping equipment, but play it by ear, go with the flow, and sometimes they are offered food and accommodation.
"In this country, everybody knows the sanlunche, the traditional Chinese tricycle, and usually what's on the back of the bike is a sales product or a small kitchen that vendors set up," 33-year-old de La Faye said in an interview with Shanghai Daily and other media.
"And on the back of my (motorized) M2B, it's just a representation of the universe."
M2B stands for MUKS to BEKS - abbreviation of the catchy "Mobile Union Kinetic Sculpture" (MUKS) that mutates into a "Butterfly Effect Kinetic Sculpture" (BEKS), de La Faye strived to explain.
The device contains eight black and white balls on the vertices, the balls representing the theory of yin and yang in Taoism, "which represents the balance of the universe," the French artist said.
Got all that? Most people don't but as all the moving parts rotate and wheel about, it's definitely eye-catching.
Inside the frame, orbs, pyramids and cubes are painted in primary colors and swirl around under motorized power. This part of the sculpture was inspired by the much-talked about scientific paper, "The Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" proposed by American physicist Antony Garrett Lisi. The theory holds that a single set of equations explains the functioning of the entire universe.
"M2B is the combination of Eastern and Western culture," said de La Faye, adding that he got the idea in 2009 when he was living in Shanghai.
De La Faye also works with photography, face painting and costumes, as well as building and commercial materials, such as the tricycle, most commonly seen carrying enormous loads of lumber, furniture, waste and recyclables and pedaled by migrant workers straining to move their tricycles.
De La Faye liked the idea of converting a traditional means of transport and a working tool into a piece of moving sculpture conveying the idea of balance in the universe.
The journey from Beijing to Shanghai was difficult but de La Faye and Stonesun were joined by Chinese friends who rode the bicycle in turn.
"If I only did this by myself, people would think it's just a weird laowai doing weird stuff," the artist said. "But when Chinese people ride it, passersby show great interest in it and the idea of a mini-universe."
Many people studied it and even climbed abroad to get a closer look at all those moving orbs they had read about in newspapers.
The funniest experiences was in a village in Dongping County in East China's Shandong Province, where a tiny elderly woman approached the contraption and said cheerfully, "This looks great. Are you here to sell vegetables?"
Sometimes the whole contraption was converted to a mini-theater for shadow plays in parks along the way. A semi-transparent white curtain covered the whole sculpture and viewers could watch the softly lighted geometric shapes moving inside.
Along the way the artists and his team stopped to enjoy tea and massage, tried some traditional medical cupping therapy for sore muscles and enjoyed historic sites and countryside temples. He uploaded videos of his 1,500 km of performance art.
And what does this contraption mean? Well, it's about yin, yang, the butterfly effect and the universe - just about everything.
This colorful construct in a big black frame is the work of French visual artist Niko de La Faye and both artist and tricycle art arrived Tuesday evening, after a 39-day journey from Beijing to the XiYiTang Gallery in Shanghai's Huangpu District.
Along the way, the intriguing project drew countless curious stares, quite a few laughs and created a bit of traffic disruption. De La Faye avoided big highways and mountainous areas. Some cops posed for photos and said it was cool.
Fortunately, the tricycle is motorized and de La Faye travels with a Chinese assistant known as Stonesun and other Chinese friends. They pack camping equipment, but play it by ear, go with the flow, and sometimes they are offered food and accommodation.
"In this country, everybody knows the sanlunche, the traditional Chinese tricycle, and usually what's on the back of the bike is a sales product or a small kitchen that vendors set up," 33-year-old de La Faye said in an interview with Shanghai Daily and other media.
"And on the back of my (motorized) M2B, it's just a representation of the universe."
M2B stands for MUKS to BEKS - abbreviation of the catchy "Mobile Union Kinetic Sculpture" (MUKS) that mutates into a "Butterfly Effect Kinetic Sculpture" (BEKS), de La Faye strived to explain.
The device contains eight black and white balls on the vertices, the balls representing the theory of yin and yang in Taoism, "which represents the balance of the universe," the French artist said.
Got all that? Most people don't but as all the moving parts rotate and wheel about, it's definitely eye-catching.
Inside the frame, orbs, pyramids and cubes are painted in primary colors and swirl around under motorized power. This part of the sculpture was inspired by the much-talked about scientific paper, "The Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything" proposed by American physicist Antony Garrett Lisi. The theory holds that a single set of equations explains the functioning of the entire universe.
"M2B is the combination of Eastern and Western culture," said de La Faye, adding that he got the idea in 2009 when he was living in Shanghai.
De La Faye also works with photography, face painting and costumes, as well as building and commercial materials, such as the tricycle, most commonly seen carrying enormous loads of lumber, furniture, waste and recyclables and pedaled by migrant workers straining to move their tricycles.
De La Faye liked the idea of converting a traditional means of transport and a working tool into a piece of moving sculpture conveying the idea of balance in the universe.
The journey from Beijing to Shanghai was difficult but de La Faye and Stonesun were joined by Chinese friends who rode the bicycle in turn.
"If I only did this by myself, people would think it's just a weird laowai doing weird stuff," the artist said. "But when Chinese people ride it, passersby show great interest in it and the idea of a mini-universe."
Many people studied it and even climbed abroad to get a closer look at all those moving orbs they had read about in newspapers.
The funniest experiences was in a village in Dongping County in East China's Shandong Province, where a tiny elderly woman approached the contraption and said cheerfully, "This looks great. Are you here to sell vegetables?"
Sometimes the whole contraption was converted to a mini-theater for shadow plays in parks along the way. A semi-transparent white curtain covered the whole sculpture and viewers could watch the softly lighted geometric shapes moving inside.
Along the way the artists and his team stopped to enjoy tea and massage, tried some traditional medical cupping therapy for sore muscles and enjoyed historic sites and countryside temples. He uploaded videos of his 1,500 km of performance art.
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