陳 靄 媛 MEL CHAN
HAND MASSAGE
Medium: Table, Chairs, Massage Oil, Towel, Flowers, Vase, Smart Phone, Facebook
Duration: 12 - 15 minutes per session
Year: 2018/2019
During the hand massage sessions, conversations about time, space, memories, and (art) objects take place between the artist and the audience. Just as a duet dance, art unfolds along with the intimate acts in forms of tactile and verbal exchange. Yet the live broadcast on social media of such dance betrays its intimacy. The camera, rather, suggests a theatrical act co-produced by the artist and the audience alike. Not only is the ordinary artist-art-audience relations and communication mode are being tested, the usual parameter of theatrical performance is also disrupted.
Despite the romanticized atmosphere and encounter, this is not an idealized conversation piece, as those advocated by Grant Kester. Rather, the (usually hidden) economy of artistic production and physical/emotional labour are addressed, and both sides seems to be exploited to a certain extent.
Hand Massage was performed at Hospitalfield (Scotland), 1646 (Den Haag, the Netherlands), V2_ (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and ACPA (Leiden University) Conference 2019.