Photo by Vicky Shin
foxconn
Combination of a video game, a game show, a piano competition, a noise show, a light show, a car race, but perhaps, in the end, the precision work of a factory. This is what I interpreted in the final analysis—a representation of labour which requires the skill and attention to detail but brings little reward.
The piece was created by Hong Kong Exile (Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Milton Lim , Remy Siu), with Vicky Chow, Paul Paroczai and Matt Poon and performed by Natalie Tin Yin Gan, Vicky Chow and Andrei Chi Lok Koo. Hong Kong Exile is a Vancouver-based interdisciplinary arts company who are not afraid to push the boundaries of avant garde art.
The three performers are seated at digital keyboards, watched by webcams projected behind them. They exist in areas which are occasionally flooded with light. The sound is harsh and electronic and not visibly connected to the intense motions and manual gymnastics on display from the performers. There are a lot of images on the screen—numerical countdowns and series of Chinese characters, random numbers and occasional English words.
Foxconn Frequency (no. 3) for Three Visible Chinese Performers is easy to write about, because it is so odd. But it is difficult to analyze. So I began with description and thoughts but then felt the desire to read what has been said about it. As this was the world premiere, it is hard to get a sense of how critics and audiences will react to it. However, a few previous incarnations of this piece have been performed so I know that the artists trigger samples from their keyboards and that the piece intends to draw attention to the body and persona of a performer or worker, rather than to their physical labour or musical output. The audience at this performance seemed enthusiastic but perhaps a little confused.
Foxconn is the giant Chinese technology company which makes most iPhones and which generated bad press for its suicide rate, working conditions and fortress-like compound. I did not make this connection before seeing the show and it was not until the very end that some references to factory work started to bring the nature of this project into focus. While much of the repetition is bemusing, the final result is quite profound.
This trailer will at least give you an idea of what is involved!