Oranges In The Room
The exhibition for the artist collaborative project - Orange Mail
2023.11
In November, artist Zhou Yuyue initiated a collaborative art project about "Recomposition and Remaking of an Orange." This project is inspired by the semi-autobiographical novel "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit," published by British writer Jeanette Winterson in 1985. "In the book, the 'orange' serves as a symbol of traditional moral concepts. Therefore, 'Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit' is a challenge to conventional notions, with 'the possibilities of the orange' becoming a reference point for how we perceive individuals and the world." Zhou Yuyue invited artists to "recreate" the orange, encouraging them to respond to their own exploration of identity, gender, and individual cognition.
As the curator of the project, Zhou Yuyue invited queer and female artists from his surroundings. Drawing inspiration from the participation forms and rules of Mail Art, he sent each artist a postal package containing an orange, along with a brief introduction and an invitation to create an artwork. Upon receiving the package, artists engaged in the creative process and subsequently sent their works back to Zhou Yuyue's studio for exhibition.
I Bought Orange From The Dress Shop (Part)
Performance - 1’23’’
Hao Wang
The Society is a big dress shop, what it sells is spectacle. I came into it, and I bought an orange. I didn’t see any other fruit there, and I could only take it.
It’s mine, I want it
Performance - 11’55’’
Xunan Liu (Demi)
I used oranges as a carrier to interpret my own retaliatory compensation behavior. The desire that I was suppressed in my childhood, and the act of retaliatory compensation towards myself after the external conditions were met, also led me to fall into another level of self-evidence trap. Always trying to prove that I have the ability to satisfy my desires until I become pathological.
The Ending of Oranges
Performance - 2’57’’
Yi Zhu
The video recorded a conversation and practice with my mother about how to view oranges and the use of them. I tried to guide my mother to find more "life value" for oranges, but was eventually brought back to the starting point by my mother.Oranges are born to be eaten as a result.Oranges are not the only fruits, but it can't change the fact that oranges are fruits. If you are an orange, under the expectation of the outside world, will you choose to be a good fruit according to your own advantages or look for other values?
Skin Writing
Performance - 4’50’’
Yuyue Zhou
The orange is my abstracted body, leaving genderless "skin traces" as it rolls. As a form of "significant bodily information," it records my currently blurred gender perception.
Nursing
Sculpture - Orange，Pin，Bra
Ji Chen (Ash)
In this work, the artist invites the viewer to reflect on why breastfeeding seems to be a vehicle for society, morality and responsibility.
In the end, Zhou Yuyue arranged the "oranges" sent by the artists in the unused guest room reserved for his mother, attempting to transform the room's lack of utility into the practicality of art, achieving a fusion of artistic expression and daily life.
The exhibition is titled "Oranges in the Room." Artists structured questions of identity cognition around the "transformation" of an orange. While these "oranges" appear to be ordinary objects in the guest room, the combination of the two brings the artists' discussions of identity, gender, and individual cognition into a realm that is both everyday and private. The aim is to enable viewers to discover the artists' self-awareness hidden in the everyday environment through a secretive exploratory perspective.
EXHIBITION SITE
