Sweeping Ponies (2o2o)
#street performance, #video
2020 arrived, and I formed the habit of sweeping ponies.
No matter where I am, if I see ponies, I sweep ‘em.
After I started sweeping ponies,
I’ve got rid of my aches in the waist and in the legs.
Everything I eat tastes delicious, and my health improved.
I can now sweep fifty horses at a time without much effort.
The dark night gave me a black broom,
yet I use it to sweep ponies.
Why do I always have a broom in my hand?
It is because I sweep ponies with profound emotion.
The ponies are great, and so am I.
Sweeping Ponies, 扫马 (sǎo mǎ) in Chinese, is a homophone of scanning QR code 扫码 (sǎo mǎ), an essential component of life in urban China especially with its advanced e-pay system. While the compulsory application of the health code during COVID-19 further consolidates sǎo mǎ as a daily routine, the technological ethnical issues around it - how our data has been collected and used, by whom, and under what terms - have often stayed beyond people’s concern or even acknowledgement. By “sweeping ponies” in the streets of Shanghai, we aim to trigger among our audience a second thought about this action and what it really means.
No matter where I am, if I see ponies, I sweep ‘em.
After I started sweeping ponies,
I’ve got rid of my aches in the waist and in the legs.
Everything I eat tastes delicious, and my health improved.
I can now sweep fifty horses at a time without much effort.
The dark night gave me a black broom,
yet I use it to sweep ponies.
Why do I always have a broom in my hand?
It is because I sweep ponies with profound emotion.
The ponies are great, and so am I.
Sweeping Ponies, 扫马 (sǎo mǎ) in Chinese, is a homophone of scanning QR code 扫码 (sǎo mǎ), an essential component of life in urban China especially with its advanced e-pay system. While the compulsory application of the health code during COVID-19 further consolidates sǎo mǎ as a daily routine, the technological ethnical issues around it - how our data has been collected and used, by whom, and under what terms - have often stayed beyond people’s concern or even acknowledgement. By “sweeping ponies” in the streets of Shanghai, we aim to trigger among our audience a second thought about this action and what it really means.
︎︎︎ nocode