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| Mad for Real-JJ Xi and Cai Yuan STRUGGLE CRITICISE REFORM Thessaloniki 2009 Using the popular figure of the Monkey King as a potent emblem of political and cultural consumption, Cai Yuan und JJ Xi present a performance that questions the role of culture in relation to political power and the way in which culture is subsumed and manipulated by ideological structures. Both Chinese classical culture and modern politics are invoked by the Monkey King as a cultural legend who is present throughout the centuries. The words Dou-Pi-Gai (Struggle-Criticise-Reform) are directly lifted from the ideological of high Maoism of 1960s’ China, used as an anti-capitalist campaign. In the violence of the Cultural Revolution the Monkey King was used as a political tool by Mao Zedong. In the performance, this figure plays up and invites the audience to ridicule and make fun of him at his own expense, so that they become willing participants in his state of abjection at the same time as enjoying the effect. The tension between the artists and the audience blurs the boundary of power and suggests the idea of coercion in culture and politics. The monkeys start fighting back through shouting political slogans which further the sense of ridicule through the sense of impossibility of escaping ideology. This piece Struggle Criticise Reform was first presented at the Haus Der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin in 2006. Katie Hill  Download CV |  Dou-pi-gai: struggle criticise reform, 2006 Soya Sauce and Ketchup - Universal Project, 2002 Tony Bear, 2000 |
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