As an artist involved in many disciplines such as video, installation, painting, performance, and collective participation, Chen Shaoxiong began to participate in the underground and experimental art scene in Guangzhou in the mid-1980s. By early 1990s, Chen Shaoxiong revolved around the theme of “time” and created works such as Seven Days of Silence, 72.5 Hours of Electricity Consumption and 5 Hours. In these works, the artist set clear boundaries of time – simple, exact, from beginning to end, and conveys the mundane state of life in the contemporary age.

Created in 1992, 72.5 Hours of Electricity Consumption uses neon tubes commonly found in hotels, night clubs and other entertainment venues. These colourful tubes are assembled into a human skeleton to resemble a strawman. They share a mechanical relationship with electric switches and timetables, and lets the spectators feel the blur and dreaminess of the urban night scene. When the installation is lit up, the electric meter on the side begins recording the amount of electricity it consumes – as if in an urban setting, the subjectivity of the individual is slowly coming to an extinction. Without knowing, the leisure hours of the evening are also passing away quietly in this place of consumerism.

(Edited by Lijie Wang & Miao Zijin)