Performance

Cleansing

Year: 2012
Medium: Performance; spittoon, red apple, detergent, hand soap, laundry soap, washing powder, steel wool and brushes
Location: Shanghai
Photography: Geng Hai

Five-minute edit · 04:59

Cleansing: document 02 — The artist beginning work on the apple during Cleansing.

Cleansing: document 03 — The artist applying cleaning liquid to the apple.

Cleansing: document 04 — The artist stripping the apple’s surface during the performance.

Cleansing: document 05 — Close view of the apple and the cleaning process.

Cleansing: document 06 — The artist continuing the cleaning process.

Cleansing: document 07 — Viewers observing the artist and the washing materials.

Artist’s statement

Apples carry substantial symbolic significance in both Chinese and Western cultures. They stand for wisdom, beauty and something cherished, but also for discord: the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden; the golden apple contested by goddesses in Greek mythology; the apple as a symbol of eternal youth in Germanic mythology; and the association between apples and peace or safety in Chinese culture.

Here, the red apple represents our brains, filled with bloodshed and violence. Removing its red skin through various methods of washing becomes a process of stripping away the red and other forms of contamination from our minds and repairing them. Cleansing is also “brainwashing.” Yet in removing a red culture that has already penetrated to the marrow, we strip away not only the red but also the apple’s flesh, until only its core remains. Finally, I swallow that core.