a porous parking lot - zhuyan ye
zhuyan ye
At ZK/U, zhuyan will be working on the project "a porous parking lot", which includes a research-based auto-anthropology video installation and a collaborative performance. It was initiated by parking instructions in event invitation letters in Asian American Small Business Association Records in Chicago. She started to ask people, “Is parking a problem for you?” in different cities in 2024. In these conversations, she tries to capture how the human body and the city, as an artificial habitat, are connected inside a cramped, sometimes rocking vehicle.
Paralleling the personal and historic memories of migration, the performance invites one to think about the bodies of territorial hippopotamuses, who live in zoos, also artificial habitats, around the world. These huge animal bodies make their homes or migrate to different zoos. Humans make decisions here — who is suitable to be viewed where? Who needs to mate with other hippos? Does the hippo experience the zoo as home, or just a temporary parking lot?
