December 2005
Tracking and Tracing Installation
New York Fengshui is a documentary photograph of a performance that took place at PS1 Contemporary Art Center in New York. After dragging himself on the cement floor of PS1's courtyard, Zhang Huan laid his naked body for nearly ten minutes on a Chinese bed furnished with blocks of ice instead of cushions. In the title Zhang Huan refers to the ancient Chinese custom of fenshui-which is the practice of attaining harmony with the environment through the arrangement of objects and physical actions in space. A new immigrant to New York, Zhang Huan used his body to metaphysically melt the fear and disconnection he felt in his new environment.
A gift of Lydia Thompson and David Fox, Zhang Huan's photograph represents the beginning of Lydia Thompson's interest in contemporary Chinese art. An historian specializing in ancient China, Thompson began to study, teach, and collect contemporary Chinese art in the late nineties, when contemporary art from the region began to receive international attention.
Last Updated: 7/8/2021