Zhu Ming, First Breaths or The First Autonomous Gesture:
The artist enters a transparent balloon filled with air; he then performs a variety of actions within the confined space, such as lighting up a fire which poisons and consumes his oxygen till he’s forced to burst out of the bubble in a cloud of smoke; or he splatters ink or toxic fluorescent paint inside the balloon or navigates the balloon into the sea and travels in it as far as he can, or fills the balloon with water, or simply sits naked in it for days on end.
Ming describes these performances as “expressive of his struggle for autonomy”.
