Kunsthall Stavanger is proud to present Untitled (Dancing Partner), 2010, by Chinese artist Liu Chuang in our video room during the month of July. Part performance, part video work, the short five-minute single-channel recording ingeniously reveals the power of the majority over the individual, and the constant pressures to conform.

In the video, two cars identical in color, make, and model drive in unison through the busy streets and highways of a city at the minimum speed limit set by the law (60km). The cars cause no severe congestion or danger, but there is a visible interference with the flow of traffic and a palpable discomfort is created by the refusal of the drivers to conform to the speed of movement around them. Conversely, the video could be seen as a comment on partnership and community as two cars synchronize their movements in an arena where normally individual speed prevails.

Untitled (Dancing Partners) is an intervention in the patterns of the everyday. Humorous and frustrating in turn, the video records a quiet revolt, a defiance of the expectations of society at large, and the relationship and strength forged between two like entities.

*image (left)
courtesy of the artist and Leo Xu Projects