Duan Yingmei

Behind the laconic presentation—a QR code which leads to an Instagram account—is a durational process of communication to which Duan Yingmei has committed herself for the entire length of the exhibition, for at least an hour a day. Anyone can write and set a date and time for a chat (via text, video or audiomessage) through her account, where you can also see a growing album of images, videos and texts—her interpretations of the chat(s) she had the day before. She explains that during the isolation of the pandemic, online communication gained many layers of complexity and affects us all in various way. Often exploring the unpredictable domain of human relations in her performances and video installations, their psychic and subliminal undercurrents, in I Would Like to Know You Duan highlights the deeply communicative nature of human experience.

In Duan’s earlier works, going back to her iconic performances as part of the East Village community of artists in Beijing in the 1990s, she consistently employed fewer verbal and more bodily and spiritual forms of communication, a choice that is perhaps rooted in her experience as a child. She was born with a cleft palate, which impeded her speech, something that has left a traumatic mark. However, true to her investigative practice into the depths of the human psyche, Duan has chosen to spend five months talking, to share part of her time with viewers as a form of curiosity, care, and utmost attention.

SK