Shanzhai Lyric Reads Incomplete Poem
April 18, 2022
- Past
- Performance
On the final day of Greater New York, artist collective Shanzhai Lyric will present a poetry reading and deinstallation of their work, Incomplete Poem (2015-ongoing), installed in the lobby of MoMA PS1. The installation includes a shifting archive of shanzhai, or counterfeit, T-shirts that the artists have sourced over the years in several cities from Hong Kong to New York. Shanzhai Lyric considers the language on these accumulated shirts to be one long poem moving across bodies and landscapes. Purpose-built reading apparatuses in the installation, designed with the architectural collective common room, reference structures where text and textile trouble the border between public and private space, such as laundry lines, newspaper racks, billboards, and trash heaps.