Living on the Screen
Featured in
Retrospecta 47
Yale University
2024
The project site, bordered by major roads and near Highway 91 in New Haven, is under constant surveillance from traffic cameras and windows of adjacent buildings, creating an atmosphere of surveillant tension. Serving Beijing East Village artist collective, who produced some most politically-and-socially-charged group performances in the 1990s, this project explores how their artistic practices can inform a new radical form of collective dwelling.
This dwelling, conceived as a black box in its urban context, is shaped by the prospect and aspect projections taking place on-site. Visitors are invited to immersively experience the collective life of the artists, breaking the fourth wall and becoming part of the performance art itself. Their activities are recorded and projected on the existing building facades with a time delay. It aims to stimulate public engagement and provoke cultural, social, and political conversations.