Biface Graphy

Excerpt from Inward Gazes: Documentaries of Chinese Performance Art 2012, The Macao Museum of Art, Macau S.A.R., 2012, p. 61: 'We have been practising 'biface graphy' for nearly three years.
We cut a stripe out of the paper scroll after each session of calligraphy.
The paper scroll is placed high on a wooden framework, which we used to call 'machine.'

A session can last for a period of time; its duration is only limited by the length of the paper we cut at our disposal.
Paper is hung vertically between us, and Pens are suspended as well.
We can feel each other only through strokes of Paper.
When we write, the undulating Paper provides no stiff, flat writing surface.
Until now, we have always been writing simultaneously, sometimes even using both hands.

The writing process is relentlessly alimented by tension to a certain extent.
Paper is no more a passive object ready for the Pen's will.
Pen has no clue to the effectiveness it can attain in mastering the surface of paper.
From this situation, the field of possibilities of Pen on Paper has somehow encountered a mutation.
Pen is not giving up his self-consciousness and inherent quality to control, but it has to deal with another pen.

This is a simple exercise that anyone can experience by finding a partner.'

The performance took place in three cities in China, including Chongqing, Guizhou, Guangxi.

Alternative title

Shuang Mian Shu Fa

Access level

Online

Keyword
Publication/Creation date

2012

Creation place

China

Medium

Performance

Content type

artwork documentation

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Biface Graphy, 雙面書法