We Apologize to Inform You — Yokohama

We Apologize to Inform You — Yokohama is a conceptual socially engaged theatre work by Xiao Ke × Zi Han. It builds dialogue between individual action and social realities, articulating the artists’ concerns. Giving up the conventional theatre stage, the artists move into public space, reflecting their situation of making art in Shanghai. The work combines live performance, installation, and visual art, reducing technical decoration while magnifying strong images from everyday life.

The title highlights potential violence in daily life. We are accustomed to accepting already-decided results, such as announcements of flight delays; yet this also concerns individual rights, a shared reality in China and Japan. Political power attempts to make people accept its purposes. The performance takes up typical behaviour and magnifies its energy as an alarm to awaken people.

This was the second version of the project at TPAM 2014 in Japan. The first version was presented at the Zhujiajiao Contemporary Art Exhibition in Shanghai in 2013. The Yokohama work unfolded in four sessions, at different times and locations.