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Requiem for shared bikes

Performance
Video: 4'24''
2020

Story

As one of the forms of sharing economy, 'sharing bicycle' has experienced four years in China. After the initial barbaric growth and capital turmoil, many bike sharing brands are now facing social debate. Excessive and disorderly parking of shared bicycles has brought new congestion, occupation of street spaces, destruction and behaviors of citizens. To deal with the chaos and maintain the image the ‘Political Power’, the Chinese government has piled up millions of deserted bicycles in some open areas of the city.

 recorded the ringing and locking sounds of sharing bicycles on the streets of Shanghai, and remixed them to make a proper requiem. I played the mourning music for them in the funeral I hosted for them afterwards.

I published an obituary in ‘Shanghai Science and Technology Daily’ in an effort to memorize their tragic life . Nowadays physical newspapers share the same fate as sharing bikes. I do not expect the obituary to be seen or the funeral has someone to attend. Even if no one came, the story itself was pathetic.

I visited several bike sharing bike graveyards in Shanghai. A large proportion of these abandoned bikes were in good condition, but they were buried alive in the 'open mortuary' of one city. They cried like 'didi - didi' all night, just like the crying Jewish refugees in the Auschwitz camp. I had a strong personal feeling about their fate. I did not know how to ride a bike before. So at the end of 2019, I found a bike in that graveyard and learned how to ride a bike. Then I put on my white gloves and buried the bicycle as an embalmer: I washed the dirt off its body, groomed it, sprayed it with gold paint and played the requiem.

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