SculptureCenter,
New York, the United State
about the show
For In Practice, Zishi Han and Wei Yang present a new phase of their ongoing collaborative research project into historical Chinese homoerotic literature, intertwining multiple narratives that explore queer existences in China and of Chinese diaspora. Emerging from their shared interests in the power dynamics inherent in desire and intimacy, the artists’ point of departure is their own translation of
the late Ming dynasty anthology of homoerotic stories 弁而釵 (Biàn ér chai) by the pseudonymous “The Moon-Heart Master of the Drunken West Lake,” the title of which suggests the action of a man removing his ceremonial headgear and donning a woman’s hairpin.
Han and Yang’s performance-and-video works loosely interpret and transposes the text’s storylines (notably, of an affair between a student and a disguised academician, expressed here in conversations between the student and a close companion) to dwell amidst the blurry boundary between the fictional and the biographical, while drawing on a variety of Chinese historical and contemporary cultural practices, such as poetry, Chinese Opera, literati landscape painting, Danmei literature, C-pop and reality TV shows.
Their exhibition includes a new video alongside sculptures of an overhead net and a fallen gong, creating a visual pun (legible in Mandarin) that plays on the idiomatic impasse of being caught between “two nets,” one in the sky and one on the ground.
Hairpin Beneath 2
钗之后 二
2025
HD single-channel video, live performance, light, color, sound
29min 48s
Video CREDITS:
Directed by Zishi Han and Wei Yang
Based on the Story and Characters Created by The Moon-Heart Master of the Drunken West Lake
Adaptation and Screenplay by Wei Yang
Cast (in order of appearance)
Wei Yang, Chengyu Wu, Antone Liu
Editor: Zishi Han
Camera: Wei Yang, Zishi Han
Colorist: John Hussain Flindt, Zishi Han
Set Designer: Wei Yang, Zishi Han
Costume, Hair and Makeup: Xtina Vargas, Chengyu Wu, Antone Liu
Dubbing: Wei Yang
Recording: Zishi Han, Yu Yang
Sound Design: John Hussain Flindt, Zishi Han
Subtitles: Wei Yang, Zishi Han
Proofreading: Claire Kim
Performance CREDITS:
Directed by Wei Yang and Zishi Han
Live Performers (in alphabetical order)
Wei Yang, Yushu Wang, Yimiao Liu, Phoebe Chen, Sylvia Ke
Technician: Zishi Han
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Kyle Dancewicz
Christopher Aque
Claire Kim
Jane DeBevoise
James Gibbel
Kamal Nassif
Juri Simoncini
Elisa Diaferia
Giulia Guidi
Augustine Paredes
Hangping Yang
Wanwen Zhang
Jamie Shi
Lorenzo García-Andrade
Junhao Xiang
Nadh Lingyun Cao
Kaixin Chen
Karl Kleim
Bernhard Schreiner
Marius Moll
Siri Black
Sebastian Stöhrer
Stefan Wieland
Hanna-Maria Hammari
Markéta Adamcová
Oscar Kargruber
CFGNY
Covey Gong
Installation View,
In Practice: Zishi Han and Wei Yang at Sculpture Center, New York, 2025.
Courtesy: the artists. Photo: Charles Benton
Zishi Han, xoxo, 2025, In Practice: Zishi Han and Wei Yang at Sculpture Center, New York, 2025.
Courtesy: the artists. Photo: Charles Benton
gong gurl
2025
Papier-mâché
23 × 39 × 39 inches
(99 × 99 × 58 cm)
Wei Yang, gong gurl (details)