Ping Pong 乒乓

Ping Pong 乒乓, is a happening happening in the popular Dongcheng District of Beijing. This district was then in the process of alleged gentrification, welcoming more and more tourists from all over China. Thousands of ping pong balls were thrown in this neighbourhood in broad daylight. They bore the word 等等, děng děng, meaning just as much "wait a minute!" as “and so on" or "etcetera" depending on the context of the phrase. Other words, chosen spontaneously when writing with indelible markers on the balls, also punctuated the tone of the discourse of the work. A few hours after the action, only a few balles were still detectable in the sewers, mixed with detritus left daily by the mass of tourists. A group of children from the neighbourhood, several days later, collected the balles in plastic bags and exchanged the slogans that seemed to them the most interesting.

This project was influenced by a youtube video of 2011 where Syrian activists performed the same type of action in the streets of Damascus. Table tennis balls engraved with slogans calling for the overthrow of the regime were scattered throughout the popular neighbourhoods of the city during a whole night.

Ping Pong 乒乓 was made in collaboration with Hu Wei 胡伟 and Sid Gulinck 赛德 during a residency at the Institute for Provocation in Beijing supported by Pro Helvetia in 2014.