She is a sound artists that specialises in participatory installation and performances that involve the body, mind, sound and time. She has a minimalist approach to her work that allows for her to get subtle noises that could go amiss. During the pandemic she made a work in collaboration Li song called ‘1000 ears’ that was interactive sound performances that can be done online. The where operators that gave scenarios to each listener and it was from scripts that change slightly with each participant. Another on of her performance works was called ‘there in no stasis’ where she showed us a recording of her going through rooms and subtly changing aspects like windows or doors and the guests would listen to the droning noise change and alter slightly. She said that she wanted to understand what ‘unpleasant sounds’ where to people.
https://www.zhuomengting.com/work.html
She then talked about the Theater of the absurd and how it can be applied to performance based pieces. And as we neared the end of the lecture we had our own experiment. This involved silence and a few participants that had to stand sequentially to the signal of a clap that the previous person did and then sit until the last person then announces they are the ‘last’. This then gets a adapted as people change the rules this could be moving around or clapping a rhythm. I suggested closing eyes and relying and the claps alone as the indicator that then let you know to sit. This is a concept that i want to put into my exhibit as it could be that participants write instructions for the next person that then it can become a chain of different perspectives and approaches. This can then be open up the discussion of why we had this ideas and how we came to those conclusions. This was and important lecture that helped me learn about performance and participation.