123456 chops - 2008 - Video

123,456 Chops, 120x200cm, c-print, edition of 6, 2008

 

In dark light, a man dressed in the clothes of a lunatic or an institutionalized patient approaches a huge chopping block and throws the carcass of a goat onto the block. Then he begins coldly and wildly cutting the carcass into pieces hour-by-hour, day-in-and-day-out. The lone actor’s anger, violence, suffocation, sadness, disappointment, are all depicted in this methodical cutting action, in a disturbing piece that any one who has felt the need to vent anger can relate to. Perhaps this venting is the best means available to deal with unresolved feelings of anger, hatred, self-defense, or other negative feelings, to relieve oneself of far worse mental diseases.

During the production of this video, the artist tried to buy a pair of big-bladed machetes from kitchenware shops. The knife vendors all looked at the artist with suspicion and watched carefully as he exited the stores. Either they told him there were no such hacking knives, or three or four people came together to be on guard against him. He was assumed to be a sick person or potentially dangerous and crazy guy. In this exercise, the artist quickly realized life is full of dangers, terrors, violence, insecurities, suspicions, and etc…

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