The Plum in the Golden Vase
4 channels video
5 minutes loop. 2005
Performers: Aaron Delehanty, Jana Rumberbon, Niki Van Strien, Sarah Draser and Colleen Mulvey
Camera: Modou Dieng, Deer Fang
The novel “The Plum in the Golden Vase” (or Chin P’ing Mei) is a sixteenth-century Chinese novel. It was one of the most infamous Chinese book because of its erotic realism and centuries of censorship. The novel was never banished but versions were printed with certain scenes missing and changes made to hide the gaps in the text. This video creates another version of this censored book based on what is abruptly missing in the linear text. The different scenes that are performed in my video relate to a particular part of the book that is the fore play to what would be censored in the narrative. These scenes are not meant to compliment the missing gap, rather they are using the gap as a space to reinvent actions.