Nonny de la Peña: Passage: The Life of a Wall on Lin He Road

In the context of the special program 15 Invitations for 15 Years, featuring exhibitions, projects, written works, performances, a blog, and publication marking AAA’s 15-year anniversary, Asia Art Archive presents “Passage: The Life of a Wall on Lin He Road” by Nonny de la  Peña.
Recognized for using cutting edge technologies to tell both fictional and news-based stories that create immersive, empathic engagement on the part of viewers, Nonny de la Pena draws from the AAA collection to create a new iteration of “Safely Manoeuvring Across Lin He Road” (1995) by New York and Beijing based artist Lin Yilin.

In the initial performance, Lin built a wall of bricks in the middle of a busy roadway in Guangzhou. As the artist moved across, he gradually brought the wall along, forcing cars to detour around him. For “Passage: The Life of a Wall on Lin He Road”, de la Pena recreates the environment of Guangzhou in the 1990s through an immersive virtual reality experience where participants take on Lin’s role as roadside artist.

Lin’s conceptual practice often embraces sculpture, installation, photography, and moving image media that feature outdoor performances involving architectural and urban construction motifs; and he shares a mutual interest in issues affecting changing urban city life with de la  Peña. Using digital technology, de la  Peña does not simply re-enact Lin’s performance but creates an experiential encounter that pushes boundaries: between artist as maker, audience as receiver, and art as conceptual or visceral.

Due to demand, any latecomers will forfeit their place. A limited number of open places will be added to the daily schedule, to be filled on-site on a first come, first serve basis.