WEINING CAI
Crazy Diner
video
more relevant performance, please check: Water the Plant & Cut sausages
We all know in the animal world, there is sexual cannibalism. For instance, a male mantis would dedicate his life to his lover after sex; a male spider is filled with exhaustion immediately after ejaculation. Animality is humanity. What if it happens to human beings? It is an interesting, philosophical question: between the individual value and reproduction/sex pleasure, which one do men think that is more important? If a man chooses to have sex, he will die, but his genes can be continuous. On the other hand, without sex, he could live longer and prove his personal values but no genetic continuity. All humans have desires and not only for lust. Sexuality is only the reflection of desire, not the initiation of desire.
Advertisement of Sexless Condoms
nine channels video
more relevant performance, please check: Water the Plant & Cut sausages
In the video of Advertisement of Sexless Condoms, Weining is exploring different ways to play with condoms. Playing with condoms is what teenage boys do when they discover their sexuality. However, in China, sexuality is taboo - and people cannot talk about it in public, although China has the largest population in the world. Citizens can buy condoms from any convenience shop in China, but there's nobody telling us the functionality of it. We can't see condom ads on TV because it is not decent to be shown to kids. It shows the hidness of condoms. On the other hand, due to medical health and birth control, condoms are necessary to be used. It is ironic. What is more, the colorful background is a metaphor for LGBT. What is the meaning of sex for them? Sexual behaviors might not be so important to some of them.
What Do I Want To Say To You
three channels video
video, 9:50
What Do I Want To Say To You, is a video, installation & performance series. It expresses the cultural and political differences between Weining’s home country, China, and the UK, such as strike, Chinese vaccine and asymmetric news, etc. The work contains both active and passive traits from the video to the installation. The video leads the audience to interpret what she wants to express. On the other hand, the installation allows the audience to find points of interest in fragmented information and data. The audience takes on a detective role as they have the freedom to explore.
Upon Weining arrival in the UK, she began to collect her personal data of living on this island. A critical topic she addresses in her work is the Chinese vaccine. Although she took the Chinese vaccine, it wasn’t accepted in the West until April this year. What caused this situation? Some say the Chinese vaccine has not gone through phase III clinical trials; some say this is a political game between China and the West.
There is a lot of negative news on China in the West. For a specific topic, the positions of the global social media and China mainland media are completely different. Some of her Western peers think that Chinese citizens are struggling living in China, and they cannot understand some policies announced by the Communist Party. Sometimes she feels overwhelmed by the opposite political stance. Even though she is absent from her home country.
She feels that art is a remedy for her wound. She places her narratives in her work, but not excessively. There is some space left for viewers to speculate and gain an understanding by themselves. She does not require her work to be fully understood. As long as the artwork is in a gallery, the importance of her ideas diminishes to an extent. What is important is that the emotion of her work encourages the audience to perceive it as they wish according to their personal experience.
Because all the data and information are the latest at the time of creation, but information and policies change over time. One of her topics was regarding the Chinese vaccine not being accepted in the West. As she planned to make progress in her work, the border crossing policies suddenly changed. Western countries started to accept the CINOVAC and Sinopharm vaccine. At that moment, she felt confused. Did she need to move on with this topic or not at that moment? But this is life. This is reality. This is what happens in her daily life. Weining then noticed that even though the CINOVAC and Sinopharm vaccines have been accepted by most European countries, she still doesn’t have an EU vaccine QR code. The problem still remains. Finally, she got a Moderna booster to comply with the regulation. When she was trying to record her experience of the Chinese vaccine, the situation was constantly changing over time was quite interesting for her.
So, what about the life of tomorrow? Every day is a drama in a loop.
This Was a Question, This Is a Question
three channels video
three channels video
With the vicissitude of time and change of dynasties, what impact have the historical changes had on the present? This video was made by Weining's visit to Taiwan. In the documentary, the leader of the Military dependents village in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, told us a sad story: during the Chinese Civil War between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party in the last century, his parents followed Chiang Kai-shek to flee to Taiwan, and lost contact with their parents and children. China mainland and Taiwan have been banned from exchanges since the Civil War till 1987. When this policy was abolished, it brought the veterans both hope and disappointment. After losing touch with families for a long time, some of them sadly found their parents had passed away because of the illness; some of them informed their wives had remarried. Who is to blame? This is the tragedy of the era. People who had experienced the war had suffered and despaired a lot. The feeling of depression and helplessness is like the roar of on the television set on both sides. If we treat history as a mirror, does a similar situation still exist nowadays?