Safety First

Last Saturday, I went to Fei Art Center together with Yvon. Neither of us is familiar with Old Humin Road. So before the trip, we had both searched the place on map, but after we had got off the bus, it was still quite difficult for us to find this place, and since it was getting darker and darker, it was even more difficult.

Lucky enough, finally, we were able to arrive at the art center ahead of the opening time. So we had to wait at the entrance for couple minutes. The art center hid in a corner in a block, like 50 Moganshan Road, it also seems to be rebuild on the basis of old factory. Immersed in dim light, the art center looked horrible, as if it was the best scene set for horrible movies.

The corridor to the exhibition hall was in darkness, without any light. The only things that can be seen were pieces of clothes hanging in front of us. We could not expect what things would jump into our eyes when pulling the clothes and walking forward.

The dark corridor seemed to lead to a haunted house. In the central exhibition hall, everything I saw looked strange and mysterious because of the darkness, for example, there was something moving in a corner, but I did not know actually they were some hens until I stood closely to them. To tell the truth, at first, is was really very hard for me to understand the intention of the artist, but fortunately, we happened to meet the young artist and a group of people who were interviewing him. Then we decided to follow them to make a second visit of the corridor. This offered a wonderful chance to know the intention of the artist.

The theme of the show was Safety First, and the artist explained that everything he did intended to make the audience focus on the concept of Safety. For example, the pieces of clothes in the corridor were like the curtains, you were not able to know what were behind them especially when you were in darkness. There are many risks and dangers in our daily life, if you do not pay enough attention to your safety, it is likely for you to encounter the dangers, like the walls hidden in darkness behind the curtains. Actually when it was lit by lights, everything was no longer mysterious, but it was darkness that made us feel the importance of keeping attention to safety all the time.

Another thing which impressed me was a small hole through which could see a person doing individual things randomly. It reminded us that in our daily life, perhaps our personal behavior is watched secretly by someone else, so we need to be aware of the safety of our own.

The artist also explained that animals such as hens would assemble in darkness by instinct, and so it is with us human beings. He was right! During the whole process of the visit, we several guys never left each other! it was human’s instinct to assemble when we were frightened and in urgent need of each other’s support and protection.