CANG XIN (CHINA, B. 1967)

As one of China’s most celebrated performance artists, Cang Xin approaches his work as a means to promote harmonious communication with nature. To Add One Meter to an Anonymous Mountain was collaboratively conceived with Chinese contemporary artist, Zhang Huan. In an attempt to add a meter to the mountain's height, several artists volunteered to lay their naked bodies atop one another at the summit of Miaofeng Mountain on the outskirts of Beijing. Through this performance doing this, the artists question the relationship between humanity and nature, asking if our actions make any difference. The body itself and the power of accumulated bodies (or rather lack of power when compared with a massive geological structure) are in dialogue with one another in this piece.