If the (Island's) Body

Is a (Marginalized)

Rice Dumpling

Par Excellence

double-channel video installation / 16'53" / 2016

Combining the imagination of the body politics with the exploration of S/M culture, Yu created this quasi-novel theatre Slave Auction in the form of two-channel video in collaboration with Corrine, a BDSM performing artist. Written and performed by Corrine, a plot of this theatre revolves around the process in which the body (of a pet) was transformed into a more value artwork (for auction) by her owner's training. The ambiguous same-sex love between the pet and the owner blossomed with the development of the plot by virtue of the pet's self-bondage and the farewell kinbaku, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the kinship, mentorship and friendship between Su-Zhen Bai and Xiaoqing of the Legend of the White Snake mentioned in the article "Bouncy Horney Rice Dumpling." This work not only exhibits the self-awareness emerging out of the tug-of -war between "submission" and "identity," but also embodies Yu's consistent linguistic manipulation at the meta-level. The theatrical performance and interview conducted outside the stage overlap with each other, making our lines of sight wander on the border of the theatrical framework.