In 2024 the A4 Residency Art Center invited us for a working period in Chengdu. When we arrived in Chengdu in July 2024, we had no preconceived ideas for what kind of sculptural figures we were going to make. We visited the city’s many markets and saw countless colourful fabrics and fantastic objects. During the 10 weeks of our residency we created four new works and performed 14 times on different locations throughout Chengdu.
Velvet City 天鹅绒城市
a performance by Guda Koster & Frans van Tartwijk, Chengdu, 2024
The bright red fabric with the elegant flower pattern used in this work is associated with how women used to dress in the past, with the North-Eastern part of China and the countryside in general. A miniature city covered in red velvet is placed on top of it. The sculpture has no face and neither front nor back side, so it also a column. The artists made a 1-minute soundtrack for it, based on a traditional song they learned from a group of elderly people who made music in a park. The figure will stand still, and comes to life whenever the music plays.
