Failed Repetition

2023
Single-channel video
2’56’’

Videography: Xiaoyi Jiang

These performance clips are an experiment in exploring physical training and competitive tension in contemporary athletic competition. I chose a hoop similar to the props used in rhythmic gymnastics and applied various postures to weave it through my entire body. The process of engaging, rubbing, adjusting, and struggling with this hoop forced me to adjust the position and height of my limbs and attempt contorted, wobbly movements to achieve my goal. If an athlete's ultimate goal is to perfectly replicate their best performance, then efforts to do so are bound to consist of futility. In my movements, the utilitarian goals of the body were aligned, but the processes were intentionally modified by me so that they presented themselves as plausible, barren repetition. The body, lacking physical training, reveals itself under the rigors of the goal as an unstable tension and a failure to reproduce the standard paradigm.