www.zhenglianjie.com
HUGE EXPLOSION: BINDING THE LOST SOULS
Performance and installation Art by ZHENG Lianjie
For seventeen days in the fall of 1993, New York-based
Chinese performance artist Zheng Lianjie (last name Zheng)
carried out a series of performance and installation works
called “Huge Explosion: Binding the Lost Souls.” The background
for his works was the Si Ma Tai site of the Great Wall
(built between 1569-1573 in the Ming Dynasty), known for
its varied architectural styles and dangerous slopes.
Zheng completed the following four performance/installation
pieces between September 21 and October 7: Memory Loss,
Black Cola, Cavern-Strategy, and Huge Explosion (an environmental
performance and installation work).
Zheng spent more than six months planning and preparing
for this artistic project, including making numerous visits
to the project site. He organized a team of 11 people
to assist him during the 17 days they spent in the mountains.
With the help of dozens of local farmers, university students,
and international friends, Zheng and his assistants gathered
more than 10,000 broken bricks from the grass along the
foot of the wall, and carried them up to the top of the
wall. There, they used 300 meters of red cloth to wrap
the bricks, and scattered them along the slopes of the
wall stretching a distance of more than 300 meters between
three fire towers to create a magnificent and solemn scene
of pounding intensity.
Chinese and international art critics and the media hailed
Zheng’s work as “stunning and epic,” describing it as
the single-most important work of contemporary Chinese
performance art since 1989. The Beijing authorities were
very critcal of the work, and quickly mobilized to suppress
it’s publicity. The color edition of Beijing Art News
covered “Huge Explosion” on its front page (including
a large photo), an act which the Ministry of Culture and
Propaganda department of the municipal government cited
as grounds for banning the publication altogether. Likewise,
all television coverage of the works were banned, and
the press conference and reception sponsored by the Beijing
Friendship Hotel was canceled by the authorities.
Photos of these four performance and installation works
were collected by the Xinhua Archives (China), Japan Associated
Press, and GAMMA Press (US). In addition, newspapers and
magazines in several countries around the world covered
Zheng’s performance piece. During the course of this series
of works, Zheng also carried out several experimental
works in the nude (almost unheard of in China at that
time).
Photographers for this series were Li Wenming, Li Yongsheng,
Cui Zun, Sun Zhaozeng, Lin Qinggang, Yu Xiangjun, Wang
Zemin, Dou Haijun, and Chen Chanfen, with Bi Jianfeng,
Li Xiaoming, Wang Yamin, and Li Yongsheng recording video.
Zheng’s assistants were Li Wenming, Li Yongsheng, Cui
Jun, Sun Zhaozeng, Lin Qinggang, Du Haofu, Wang Pengbo,
Gong Zhanwang, He Luoxian, Chen Liuquan, An Bangtao, Li
Xiurong, and Xu Yanhong.
Special thanks to the villagers of Dongpo village, Gangfang
District, Bakeshenying Town, Hebei province; the administrative
bureau of the Great wall SiMaTai site; Beijing’s MuLinSen
International Advertising Company, Limited; the Beijing
Friendship Hotel; Du Pin ;Ms, Wang Yiyan; Li Yefu; and
Chen Liuquan.
(All names are listed in Chinese order - with surnames
first.)
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