4:3, colour, sound
Traversing a range of settings from urban to rural and even venturing into the remotest desert regions of the globe, Zhou Tao has used film as a privileged tool to observe the social and environmental changes of his time. Since his first videos in 2003, he has paid particular attention to body language. In his subtly constructed images, the landscape becomes a set, an artificial vision imbued with enigmatic signs. Each place, each site, presents a multiplicity of perspectives, “folds” that encompass the myriad trajectories and meanings inherent in reality.
The ancient Chinese proverb “when the chicken talks to the duck” refers to the inability to understand each other, the difficulty of communication in the absence of a shared language. Zhou Tao makes use of this popular idiom in a video filmed in a park in Guangzhou. The work presents the staging of a group of men perched in trees in the middle of the night, imitating with remarkable precision the cries of various farm animals. Moving freely from one cry to another, the range of sounds creates a breathtaking performance. Using a lightweight camera designed for night vision, the artist infiltrates this unexpected chorus, capturing with stark intensity the impassive faces and guttural thrusts of those who utter this score of animal sounds. By relocating this sonic landscape from the countryside to the heart of a major metropolis, he also evokes the population migration associated with China's economic growth. The subjective, rudimentary camerawork and the combination of precision and improvisation of the naked voices give this moment a dreamlike quality. This vibrant and colourful scene challenges the notion of an ordinary reality that is anonymous, invisible and silent.
M.L.
