Labor, Labor! Musical Chairs
01 Nyctophobia Support Group
02 Musical Chairs
03 Dry Season
04 15 Days of Labor Symphony
05 Fishing Lamp
06 Song
In early December 1953, Chongqing’s Beibei district was approaching the depths of winter. Factory workers were navigating a period of uncertainty, shaped by corporate restructuring and the passing of Mr. Lu Zuofu the previous year, leaving them in a state of unease and struggling to adapt to new conditions.
Inside Beibei Beiyuan Glass Factory, there was one room with the most lighting — a special gathering place for some employees. Chairs were arranged in a circle, where they shared updates and experimented with new methods of self-treatment. These were individuals suffering from nyctophobia, unable to endure the darkness of the factory at night. Rumors had recently spread of monsters in the dark that could make people disappear. They came together seeking guidance: some aimed to adapt, others sought to uncover the source of the fear.
I collected their belongings, documents, and recordings from the factory, which referenced projects they had once attempted to advance. Using these materials, I recreated the objects they mentioned. Some of these people may no longer be alive, but I aim to present their confusion and struggle to adapt, as they experienced it, to today’s audience.
01
Nyctophobia Support Group
2023
Sound installation
wooden chairs, headphones, pressure sensors, audio components
Visitors enter the exhibition and choose a chair to sit on. Once they put on the headphones, the installation begins narrating the stories of eight individuals who suffered from nyctophobia, along with the treatment methods they tried. These eight were regular members of the support group at the time.
( The full stories can be found at the end of this page. )
02
Musical Chairs
2023
Video
These people play a version of musical chairs with the lights. Each time the lights go out, plunging the room into complete darkness, they scramble for the chairs. When the lights come back on, one person is missing, while the rest continue to walk around the chairs slowly and mechanically.
(*Musical Chairs* is used here as a metaphor for cross-regional corporate restructuring and industrial relocation. Just as adults can control children’s competition from a distance by turning the music on and off, corporate executives can make macro-level decisions at headquarters far from the production sites, shaping the fates of workers across multiple regions. The participants in this game lose any space for negotiation with the music controllers — they can only comply when commands are suddenly imposed and struggle to meet the requirements to avoid being expelled from the game.)
The game continues. When the lights come on, only one person walks slowly around the empty chairs in the space. The lights go out, and when they come back on, that person has disappeared — yet the sound of footsteps lingers in the room. Lights off, lights on again, and the eight participants reappear, starting a new round of musical chairs.
03
Dry Season
2023
Sound installationVisitors handle rainsticks made from bovine bones, with tiny steel beads inside producing the sound of falling rain.
The winch is fixed at a height of about two meters, so viewers have to raise their hands and stand on tiptoe to use it. As the bone in the center flips and tilts, the creaking of the mechanism’s hinges is accompanied by the sound of rain.
04
15 Days of Labor Symphony
2023
Sound installation
A contact microphone is attached to the ant terrarium, allowing you to hear the ants’ sounds. Beside it, a sheet of music indicates how much food and water they should receive over the 15-day exhibition period. The ants are covered by a large iron box, and visitors listen to their presence through headphones.
05
Fishing Lamp
2023
Installation
A fishing lamp, used in deep-sea fisheries to attract fish, hangs above the exhibition space, its flickering light subtle and easily overlooked. As one visitor notices it, more and more people begin to look up. One visitor picks up a phone placed nearby and points it at the lamp to decode its signal. On the phone screen, the message begins to loop: UNITYISPOWERUNITYISPOWER
06
Song
2023
Sound installation
From the speaker comes a series of hummed single notes, each ending with a faint, exhausted tremble.
[Exhibition leaflet]
[展覽手冊]