The Trial is a delicately schemed form of absurdist theatre in which the main character performed by the artist assumes a severe, militant like figure in uniform who harangues three vending machines in a ‘dialectical discussion’. It explores the exaggerated gestures of the revolutionary speaker and the archaic language typically employed in communist ideological discourse. The relationship between figure and the vending machine stands as a metaphorical dialogue between capitalism and communism. The protagonist’s objectives are earnest and practical; yet somehow appear out of sync in contrast to an arbitrary setting situated in the present. In fact, the character bears stronger resemblance to the literary figure Don Quixote and his nonsensical struggle with the windmill. Unlike the windmill that remains mute throughout the tirade undertaken by Don Quixote, in this performance, these vending machines are perfectly endowed to articulate their own defense – turning the situation back onto the revolutionary agitator whose position also comes under scrutiny.

《審判》可以被看成是一齣短小的荒誕劇。 藝術家扮演的審判者，誇張地運用了的革命時代的修辭和身體姿勢，跟三個自動販賣機展開了一場的理性又滑稽的超現實的辯論。 審判者與自動販賣機的關係無疑是共產主義意識形態和現下全球資本消費主義的某種矛盾關係的隱喻。 審判者就像大戰風車的唐吉訶德，然而，風車不會與唐吉訶德爭辯，自動販賣機卻巧舌如簧。 審判者同時也位於被審判的位置。

Yao Qingmei (b.1982, Zhejiang) currently lives and works in Wenzhou and Paris. She achieved DNSEP with honors from Villa Arson, Nice, France in 2013, and was awarded the winner of Prix spécial du jury at the 59th Salon de Montrouge in 2014, the Prize “Young Chinese Artist of the Year” in 2017 and the 68th Prix Jeune Création of Paris in 2018.

Yao Qingmei’s practice traverses the boundary between performance and its site, frequently enacting intervention in public space to perturb the parameters of its reality and surroundings. Her art is deep-rooted in a critical reflection into the formulation of political and social questions, exploring how symbolic gestures gain or lose power through forms of appropriation and displacement. Here, humor plays an important role in her work, using the poetics of comedy to expose the absurdity of a particular issue. Offering different methods of resistance, her theatrical performances and interventions find their form in an area overlapping burlesque traditions of satire and parody, which combine with framing devices influenced by theatre sets and costume, pedagogical lectures, the dialectic between image and text, choreography inspired by modern dance.

Major solo exhibitions include: The Tetrachromatic Dream of the Dichromats, Paris, FR (2018); The Ecdysiast, Magician Space, Beijing, CN (2017); Professor Yao, OCAT Xi’an, Shaanxi, CN (2016); Recrute Mendicant/ SDF pour une foire d’art contemporain, Marseilles, FR (2015); One Hour Occupy Parking Lot, Paradise, Nante, FR (2015); Professor Yao, Magician Space, Beijing, CN (2015); Vernissage Nouvelles Expos, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR (2014).

Major group exhibitions, screenings and performances include: Artists’ Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, GB (2020); Factories, Machines and the Poet’s Words: Echoes of the Realities in Art, 798 Art Zone Buildings, Beijing, CN (2019); Bicycle Thieves, Para Site, Hong Kong, CN (2019); The Racing Will Continue, The Dancing Will Stay, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangdong, CN (2019); China Land Scape: Selections from the Taikang Collection 2019, Beijing, CN (2019); One Rehearsal (Performance), CACHE, Beijing, CN (2018); New Metallurgists, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, DE (2018); Respire-Works from the Lemaitre Video Art Collection, Herzliya Museum of Conyemporary Art, Herzliya, IL (2018); Brace for Impact, De Appel Curatorial Programme, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL (2018); NOW: A Dialogue on Female Chinese Contemporary Artists, Co-organised by CAFA Art Museum, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, and Tate Research Centre: Asia, UK (2018); The New Normal: Art and China in 2017, UCCA, Beijing, CN (2017); Yes I can! Un Portrait du Pouvoir, Centre d’art Contemporain Walter Benjamin, Perpignan, FR (2016); JCE Biennale 2015-2017, Kunstbygningen Museum, Vra, Denmark (2016); Le Commerce de la Parole, Museum Rochechouart, Rochechouart, FR (2014); La Comedie de l’Art, Fondation de Doute, Ville de Blois, FR (2014); 59e Salon de Montrouge, Ville de Montrouge, Montrouge, FR (2014).