Performance Køkkenet
Semiotics of quarantine, a video performance made by the Chinese artist Yiyao Hu
2020.03.25
Shanghai, China
Synopsis:
‘Semiotics of the Quarantine’ was recorded during mandatory quarantine at a hotel in Shanghai, China. I flew home from London, where I attend university, on March 12th. Four passengers on my flight were tested positive for the virus. Thus I was transferred by an ambulance to a quarantined hotel, where I’d spent 9 days.
When the used-to-be ‘everyday’ is suddenly out of order, we as humans, begin to adapt to the new normal and to improvise every day. Being in a domestic space without the essential materials to make artworks; being in a situation where I was not allowed to leave my room at all; being in a place where I’d use disinfectant wipes to clean lunchboxes delivered by staff in hazmat suits, I wanted to capture my new everyday.
I thought of Martha Rosler’s feminist work called ‘Semiotics of the Kitchen’. As she presents an array of kitchen utensils in a monotonous tone and sometimes violent motions, Rosler has demystified the role of a housewife in her kitchen and given fresh meanings to these domestic tools in the daily life. I decided to present my collection of objects during quarantine in a similar way. Most of these objects are very ordinary, except the thermometer and alcohol spray perhaps. Nevertheless, a piece of toilet paper that I used to write things on can be such a symbolic thing amid the coronavirus outbreak. What’s the fine line between the used-to-be everyday and the new everyday now?
Short bio:
My work revolves around interventions into public space, breaking the equilibrium and challenging the preconception of established structures. Currently, I’m a second-year BA Fine Art student at Chelsea College of Arts. I’d like to call myself a flâneur and have left my trace in Shanghai, New York City and London.
I work within the virtual world (AR, digital content) as well as with physical, tangible materials and responses. With the experience of living in fascinating metropolitan yet highly complex cities, I´ve learned to problem-solve the political issues I’m engulfed in with a poetic gesture.