I Can’t be Part of Your Revolution is a special collaboration between artist, Jin Feng and contemporary theatre director, Huang Fengling that deploys Mount Everest, the highest place on earth, as the definitive metaphor for human aspiration. Whether it is political conquest, late-capital sport, or pure status, Mount Everest has become the ultimate stage for not only pitting man against nature, but also man against man. 

It was first the British, then the French, then the Chinese and eventually America that mounted the peak. China’s ascent, while controversial outside of China, has been used as leverage for rallying national morale. By 2012, Everest has been climbed 5,656 times with 223 deaths. Today, with an average cost of over 100,000USD to reach the summit, it has become a rich man’s sport, with the number of wealthy thrill seekers rising sharply since 2000. 

Like the ascent of Mt. Everest we are continually nurtured to orient our goals towards the myth of success: The highest peaks, the most money, the greatest freedom, etc. Through live-performance, installation, painting, and video works this hybrid project aims to examine universal goals and their changing nature. The mountain becomes a stage for absurd theatrics wherein the rituals and ideals that we are programmed to adopt as our own go awry, ultimately leading us to the artist’s maxim ‘I can’t be part of your revolution’. I will make my own.