Video Installation
1920 x 1080, 3 Channels, each 1 min on loop
Color Photograph, C-Print, 150 x 100 cm, 2014
The narrative of the videos are based on the conversation between the artist and various workers who work on the mountain of St. Gallen, where several Alps villages located in Switzerland. During the residence on the mountain, the artist brought the only thing he was provided — an IKEA bed, visited different neighbour workers, include farmers, horse trainers, market clerks and asked them together to realise a short video in their working spaces. The Alp tries to twist daily routine, through the unusual usage of mass produced furniture, the art production become a strategy to reverse the power of globalisation, provides not only participants but also viewers an alternative way to rethink normalisation. The plot of the video surrounds a Swiss boy “A.K.” and his insomnia. A.K. tries to build his bed in different places to achieve better sleepiness, for example, in meadows, on a tree, under a streetlamp, inside a horse stable, etc. A.K. finally finds his absolute peace in the Zivilschutzkeller, behind the heavy anti-nuclear door.
Still images from the video The Alp, 2014 © Musquiqui Chihying
