MaLanKaiHua 21-1

In MalanKaihua 21-1, my first performance art piece, I explored individuality and the struggle to break free from societal expectations. The work revisited a childhood rhyme, once a symbol of innocence, now seen as a tool of state influence commemorating China’s first hydrogen bomb. The red rubber bands of the game became a metaphor for social constraints. In the first iteration, I invited two men to hold the bands, symbolizing patriarchal society. Their imagined gaze transformed the playful game into a suffocating experience of self-surveillance. Cutting the rubber band symbolized breaking free, but the cycle repeated, mirroring Plato’s Cave.