We apologize to inform you
TPAM Performance Meeting in Yokohama 2014

XIAO KE × ZI HAN

It is a conceptual social theater work created by Xiao Ke and Zi Han. It aims to build up the dialogue between individual action and the realistic social issue to expound artists’ attitude and concern. Xiao Ke and Zi Han give up the formal theater stage but move into public space, which reflects the realistic situation where they do their own art in Shanghai China. Live performance connects with daily staff; they try to reduce professional technical decoration in their performance but build up a strong image that is magnified from realistic life. The work combines with live performance, installation, and visual art all together.

The name “We apologize to inform you” is used to highlight the potential violence in the daily life. We are used to meet the similar situation to be accepted by some decided result such as in public airport. However it does not just happened in common flight delaying, also in the individual right issue, which is the common reality in china and japan. The political power tries to reeducate people to be accepted by their purpose. In the performance Xiao Ke and Zi Han pick up typical behaviors and magnify the energy to alarm people awaking.

This is the second version work in TPAM 2014 Japan; the first version was launched in Zhu Jia Jiao contemporary art exhibition Shanghai in 2013.

The performance in TPAM 2014 is separated by 4 sessions in different time and different locations.

1: We apologize to inform you: It is a mistake (10 mins)
KAAT Large studio lobby 13th Feb 2014 17:35-17:45

Xiao Ke, Zi Han and Japanese performer Tomoko Inoue is invited to join. They speak in three different languages together to give an unexpected encounter with audience who just come out from a performance in theater. The turbid languages situation is their real feeling in Japan.

Xiao Ke speaks in Chinese to describe how she images Japan before from her education in China. Zi Han speaks in English to explain how many mistakes he did in his artistic history, and Tomoko speaks in Japanese to try to translate a little from them, but she talks a lot about her personal feeling in the few days with the two Chinese artists.

Some impulsive action happening during the speaking, three people push audience to be accepted by their speaking and they ignore the audience’s feedback, which duplicates from Chinese way, how the government control people to be accepted by their purpose.

2: We apologize to inform you: It should be forgotten (240 mins)
BankART Studio NYK 14th Feb 2014 11:00 -15:00

Xiao Ke and Zi Han sit in the BankArt studio with their papers and ink. They stop talking but write words on papers and send these papers to people who join the art meeting inside. Writing is easy to be forgotten in china, and also quite dangerous action, even in Internet. The live art performance tries to make people think about our basic authority in the individual presentation. All the words what they write down on the paper just disappear after 10 minutes. The meaning of these words is related with artists’ attitude and thought.

3: We apologize to inform you: It is still a mistake (10 mins)
KAAT Large studio lobby 14th Feb 2014 17:35-17:45

Xiao Ke, Zi Han and Japanese performer Tomoko Inoue is invited to join. This time just Tomoko speak in Japanese, Xiao Ke and Zi Han keep their principle as before, they don’t want to talk a lot, but try to control audience with their strange and rude action to make them be accepted by what Tomoko’s speaking.

Tomoko speaks a lot about her situation and thought in realistic Japan, especially after 3.11 earthquake and nuclear accident. In the end Xiao Ke and Zi Han bow to audience to apologize but Tomoko does not.

4: We apologize to inform you: This is the only thing that you can do (90 mins)
KAAT Atrium 15th Feb 2014 18:30-20:00

It is a physical performance combining music, dance, writing, speaking, and installation. Food is the trans-media to connect the inside and outside during the performance. Food is a basic media connecting human’s body with outside, and it changes our body everyday. The safety issue of food is a big concern in China, also in Japan after 3.11. Xiao Ke and Zi Han use food such as tomato, soy sauce, vegetables, and Japanese wasabi sauce to keep communication with each other.

“Presentation, Representation and Misrepresentation” is the key words to the artists to build up the performance relationship between themselves and audience. They move, they write, they paint, and they destroy. Whatever they try to build up in the space, finally become rubbish. The space change from so clean and trendy style to so dirty and mess style. Zi Han stands in the rubbish, and tells audience his own feeling in the few days in Japan, and also his feeling in his life in China.

All the elements they use in this performance are based on their research in Japan and their experience in China. The physical action connects the two neighbor countries together in an artistic way, even now the two governments argue about a war possibility.