Asia
Yang Zhenzhong
Pleasant Sensation Passing Through Flesh - 3
2012
Pleasant Sensation Passing Through Flesh - 3
Peasant Sensation Passing Through Flesh – 3 by Yang Zhenzhong consists of a massage chair fixed to a wall. With its cushions removed to reveal its internal mechanisms, the chair’s programmed rubbing, kneading, patting, and vibrating motions create a strange sight and soundscape. The work explores the relationship between flesh and machine as they come together through technologically simulated social behaviors, challenging normative ideas about human interaction.
Yang Zhenzhong is a Chinese artist working with video, photography, and installation. His practice, remarkable for its acute and cynical tone, seeks to challenge traditional notions of social behaviour. Studying Chinese society's mutations, Yang's work notably focuses on disharmony and contradiction within contemporary China. Taboo subjects within Chinese culture, such as death, obsolete familial traditions or gender equality, are touched upon with wit and mischief. Yang's practice is also profoundly concerned with the design of contemporary society and its effect on the lives of individuals. With references to experimental cinema and performance, Yang toys with time and space in visually impacting and carefully edited videos that epitomise and highlight topical symptoms such as alienation or confusion.