Yiran Zhang, *“LOVE”(Repairing the Tofu) #1*, January 2021. © Yiran Zhang

Interview by Yzabella Zari

Yzabella Zari: How was “LOVE” (Repairing the Tofu) born?

Yiran Zhang: I have always found the act of repair to be very lifelike and humane. Repairing means spending a lot of time and labor to bring something back to its original state, but often with imperfect results. What makes people choose to repair something rather than replace it with a new one when something is broken? Perhaps for emotional reasons such as helplessness, attachment, and obsession. For me, repairing is associated with emotion and labor.

This performance was born in 2021 when I went back to China. Due to the disrupted schedule of online classes and COVID, I basically stayed at home for a few months. With such a high degree of overlap between my everyday life and art-making, I began to focus on how to create works with banal objects and behaviors and naturally incorporated more personal feelings. I always have some concept I desire to express in the back of my mind, and then I look for the materials and forms that would be suitable for the idea. One afternoon when I was putting a piece of tofu my mom bought for cooking in the fridge, I suddenly stared at that piece of tofu and began to conceive of this performance.

For "LOVE" (Repairing the Tofu), I threw a piece of tofu on the ground to break it and then tried to sew it back up with a needle and thread. The performance lasted for 1 to 1.5 hours. Repairing a piece of tofu is an impossible (and sort of funny) task. Repairing the relationships is as ridiculous to me as repairing the tofu. By putting faith and patience into something that is doomed to fail, this performance depicts how I face the fragility of relationships with the spirit of Sisyphus.

Yzabella Zari: Why is it important that you represent the fragility of relationships?

Yiran Zhang: In everyday life, compared to the shocking and theatrical twists and turns, most relationships, whether between family members, partners, or friends, change and break down unnoticed. The only constant might be the change itself. How to handle the brokenness that is destined to be irreparable? How to believe in the existence of "love" under this understanding? I wasn’t responding to these questions in this performance because I don't have the answers either, and I can't avoid the pessimism that comes with this condition. In this work, I focus on the process of facing failure, powerlessness, and doubt while considering these questions.

As a sensitive and emotionally charged person who grew up in a family that is not good at directly expressing emotions, I've always had problems understanding and expressing my feelings. When encountering a strong emotion, I tend to avoid it and pretend lightness. In my works, I talk about the puzzling or heavy topics with a sense of humor, trying to accept this awkward part of my personality and transform it into a benign expression. By embracing the emotions and the absurdity, the process of repairing the tofu is no longer despair but therapeutic for me. I hope it could also strike chords with the audience and offer some new possibilities.

Yzabella Zari: I’m curious, why tofu for the focus of this performance?

Yiran Zhang: The materiality of the tofu fits well with the characteristics I intend to express in this performance. It appears to be a complete, white square, but the surface is uneven and bumpy when viewed up close. Its texture feels like touching a cold human body. The tofu crumbles silently, shattering and bursting into a few juices and sticky bits. Every time I poked the needle into the tofu, no matter how carefully I looked for the angle, or how slowly I pulled the thread, the more I sewed, the more it cracked. The "repaired" tofu was full of crooked stitches and would fall apart with the slightest move.

Yiran Zhang, *“LOVE”(Repairing the Tofu) #2*, December 2021. © Yiran Zhang

Yzabella Zari: What were some challenges you encountered during the performance?

Yiran Zhang: The process from conception to realization was quick for this performance, so I had some challenges due to the limited space and equipment at home. For example, I didn't have a tripod to shoot an above-angle, so I wrapped a pole around the shelves, and then tied the camera with duct tape to the pole to get the angle. In addition, due to the improvisation of the performance, I also found that tofu was much harder to sew than I imagined, so it took me much longer than I expected to keep the thread on the tofu. Unexpected situations are common in creating works, and it's fun to solve these challenges and embrace the different results they may bring.

Yzabella Zari: Did you completely improvise the entire performance? Are there any outtakes?

Yiran Zhang: The basic structure is relatively certain: break the tofu and sew it up. The details of how to drop it, sew it, finish it, etc., are all improvised. I usually have a clear and detailed plan for the work, but I would have a basic framework for the performance, and then I play it on the spot. The spontaneity and randomness of performance art are what interested me most; I also think it's more emotionally charged in this way. I did this performance twice, at the beginning and the end of 2021. Seemingly the same action brought me different feelings because of the space, time, and new experiences I had during the year. For the first time, I used the photos as the documentation; for the second time, I did an installation with the monitor on the screen to play the video, and I put the "repaired" tofu on the pedestal.

Yzabella Zari: Describe your creative process in one word.

Yiran Zhang: Moment. I explore the hidden revelations and connections through the indecisive moments in everydayness. Every moment in life is equally valuable, as each moment is interconnected. To understand reality and the past and future, the primary task is to embrace one moment.

Yzabella Zari: What was the last book you read or film you saw that inspired you?

Yiran Zhang: I revisited Andrzej Zulawski's Possession (1981) a couple of days ago. When I first watched this movie secretly in the middle of the night under the quilt, I was deeply shocked by the hysterical and overwhelming atmosphere of it. Now, ten years later, when I rewatched it, I found there are a lot to learn from and think about -- such as how to use camera movement to show emotional restraint and loss of control, how to use abstract body language to materialize mental states, how to coordinate multiple factors to build complete and harmonious storytelling, etc.

Yzabella Zari: What would you like to see more of in the art performance world?

Yiran Zhang: I would like to see more performances focusing more on the intention than the form. Instead of viewing it as an expectation for the art performance world, it is more of an expectation for myself.

More of Yiran Zhang’s work can be found on her website or Instagram.