The Fabrication of Power

Yin Xiuzhen’s visual ‘Weapon’ against the Chinese Communist Party

Rosie Home Regional ARTicultion Competitor.

L A N O I G R

ARTIC U L T I ON CO M PCOMPETITOR

Rosie Home E T I

THE FABRICATION T E OF POWER I ON 2 0 2 1

When you walk into the room in the Tate Modern displaying Yin Xiuzhen’s ‘Weapon’, you find yourself immersed among a fleet of 30 colourful fabric-covered sculptures suspended from the ceiling at varying heights and positions. This large installation piece is inspired by the cultural and political issues that Yin experienced during her impoverished childhood in Beijing, China, specifically during the time of the Cultural Revolution. This was a traumatic and chaotic time for the Chinese population that left a permanent mark on both the people and Chinese culture as a whole. Through this piece of art, along with a whole host of others, Yin aims to bring awareness to this widely forgotten - yet crucially important – piece of history. The objects are made from second-hand garments of clothing, stretched over a frame of extendable curtain rods and metal hoops, with a small kitchen knife visibly protruding out of the front. The viewer’s first instinct would be perhaps to liken the objects to missiles, based on both the piece’s title, and the way in which the objects are assembled. This is one intended interpretation, but one can notice that the

shape of the objects also very closely resembles that of the Beijing Central Radio and Television Tower. This is a 405 metre tall telecommunications tower found in Beijing’s Haidian District, and one of China’s most well known broadcasting towers. Yin’s choice to use its ‘There is an shape in this artwork represents China’s broadcast media as a whole, and the dual immediately interpretation of the sculptures is meant to interlink the concept of the missiles and the threatening TV tower, suggesting that both are equally dangerous weapons – both supposedly atmosphere providing a means to defeat a hypothetical enemy, and massive tools in conflict. to the work’ Yin is presenting the idea of the Chinese governments control, over their own population and other nations – both with the physical threat of harm and violence, and the less noticeable, implicit control the government has through technology and the media. This introduces the concept of ‘Hard Power vs. Soft Power’. Joseph Nye, the political scientist who coined these terms, defined ‘power’ as the ability to influence and control the

behaviour of others to get the outcomes you want. Soft power is the exertion of this control through economic and cultural means, rather than physically through military power, described as ‘Hard Power’. In this artwork, Yin is suggesting that this soft power, although on the surface seeming less threatening, can be equally as dangerous.

But what so-called ‘power’ is Yin actually referring to here? This particular piece is touching on the soft power of the Chinese government seen during the cultural revolution, inspired by her experiences growing up in that time. This was when the Chinese communist party, lead by Mao Zedong, tried to preserve Chinese communism by purging remnants of capitalism and traditional elements from Chinese society. Mao encouraged young people to revolt by claiming the communist party had been infiltrated by counterrevolutionary “revisionists”. Young people across the country set up so called “Red Guard” divisions, and were urged to destroy the “four olds” – old ideas, old customs, old habits and old culture. Overall, the revolution devastated the country, damaging China’s economy and traditional culture massively, and causing almost 2 million deaths. This is a very strong example of how soft power can be extremely dangerous and can still cause mass devastation, and is a large part of what inspired Yin to create ‘Weapon’.

The presentation of Weapon, as with all installation pieces, is also very significant to both the interpretation of the piece, and the viewing experience. The way the objects are assembled in the formation of a fleet of missiles, surrounding you as soon as you enter the room, means there is an immediately threatening atmosphere to the work, which adds to the themes of power and control, suggesting the way the Chinese people must have felt during the Cultural Revolution. Obviously, the experiences are not comparable, but Yin, in this way, perhaps invites the viewer to reflect on their own experiences with these themes in their own life, and to consider how they would feel and react themselves if they were put in the situation that so many of the Chinese population were in the 1970s.

The aforementioned textiles used in this piece are a variety of knitted second hand materials Yin sourced for this project. She often works in fabric, an interest that was instilled in her by her mother, who worked as a seamstress when Yin was growing up. Yin has a large variety of other artworks featuring textiles as a key theme, but in ‘Weapon’, it is the second hand nature of these textiles that is key.

Yin holds strong belief that clothes should not be seen as disposable commodities, and this piece is, amongst other things, a commentary on the fast fashion industry, and how it is destroying culture. She believes that clothes can hold significant sentimental value, and has said that they can be a repository for ‘experiences, memory and traces of time’. The fast fashion industry, she believes, is taking this value away, as clothes are being bought and sold more and more often as consumerism continues to rise, and people are getting rid of clothes just so they can keep up with ‘current trends’. The exploration of the theme of clothing as a symbol for culture, and therefore the death of this culture, again links to the Cultural Revolution, where, as mentioned, massive amounts of Chinese traditional culture was lost.

The initial perception of this artwork is entirely thwarted the more one understands about Yin’s motivations behind the artistic decisions, and I think this is one of the most interesting parts about this piece. Overall, it serves as a tool for education about the impacts of the Cultural Revolution, and presents insight into some of Yin’s experiences of growing up during this time. However, the overarching message I feel Yin is attempting to communicate with this piece is the concept of standing against manipulation and striving for autonomy. The lack of control the Chinese public had was the key driving force behind the Cultural Revolution, and the reason why the communist party was able to remain in power for so long. This concept of government control – through both ‘soft power’ and broadcast media, but also culture and clothing – is one of the key themes of ‘Weapon’ and the piece is both a commentary on this issue, and a rebellion against it.

‘Soft power can be extremely dangerous’