In terms of presenting works, I was more inspired by ‘ABRAHAM ABRAHAM SARAH SARAH’ and ‘Momentary Monument – The Library’. The first is a film work, but not just playing it, it is presented like a physical work that is placed into a space where the viewer has to walk around or turn around to see the full work, which I think creates a sense of participation and makes the viewer feel like they are inside the film through the use of space. The latter, on the other hand, allows the viewer to participate in an interventionist way, where they take a part of the artwork away from it, and it’s as if a wonderful connection is established, where the viewer constitutes the work and the work constitutes the viewer.
But I also had the problem of feeling a cultural divide; Qiu Zhijie’s work and the text were relatively familiar to me, but if I had to understand the culture behind ‘ABRAHAM ABRAHAM SARAH SARAH’ it would be a more difficult thing to do. How to choose between the narrative of the work and its contextual culture is something I need to think about.
