November 8 2024

Blue Shackles: A world we cannot destroy

To the artists, the female body, like the world, is full of contradictions.

Featuring Blue Shackles Written by Seven Xu & Qiuyun Chen

Blue Shackles is a collaborative art installation initiated by five queer artists and created with the contribution of over 20 women. They refer to themselves as "exiles at the edge of the framework." "Blue is the crazy accident where emptiness meets fire. The free territories of the world are shrinking, and what remains is divided into unfreedom and relative unfreedom." Queer artists have depicted "blue" with cruel words, and they also respond with equal cruelty through their body installation: as sexual minorities, as women, as outsiders, they have no stories written about them, but they invite the public to experience pain, bondage, and indulgence.

These queer artists use blue ropes to create a cruel world: entangled, dense, and inescapable. But in their view, the real world is even crueler—heavier, more painful, and harder to imagine piercing through with one's body. "As a woman, you are taught from born to be obedient, stable, self-sacrificing, and faithful. You are groomed to become a wife, a supporting character, a comforter. You must not be curious, lustful, ambitious, or emotionally unstable. If something pleases you, it is likely deemed absurd, indecent, rebellious, and something to be restrained. It is sinful." To the artists, the female body, like the world, is full of contradictions.

In Blue Shackles, steel frames are tightly wrapped in desire-laden ropes—threatening, chaotic, and on the verge of collapse. These moral frameworks stand tall like beacons in the desert, yet they also serve as whips for others. One can sense their magnitude, like a sandstorm overturning everything, yet constantly shifting and leaving no refuge. Desire flows through "them," and "they" flow through the body. But in the simulated world of the Black Rock City desert, in this void built by a group of idealists, people can see its structure and traverse its texture. With bare feet and skin, they pass through the mirrored walls of this world. The binding ropes will sting, cutting into the skin, and yet, as the pain becomes more intense, it thickens into something like a blanket. As the blue lines in the installation bind participants, they will witness—those blue lines strangely transform into a form of wrapping, a form of comfort!

Women, from all corners of the wilderness, from the cracks in the oppressive social structure, step into the blue web, like children embarking on countless journeys from the sea of desire within their hearts, navigating fog filled with reefs and barriers. As they pass through the mist of extinction and revelry, they witness weeds reborn, the ground and seabed inverted, and the suffocating storm pressing down. Their skin and soul become one with the dense forest of desire, and a painful yet strange light emerges from the darkness. They see glowing orbs, floating above their heads, within their bodies. Like the grains of light from a lighthouse in the fog, these orbs are elusive yet unmistakably reflect the universe’s forests and storms. Sometimes, these orbs become a part of themselves—forever rolling, forever escaping, never to be confined, so small yet so profound.

The creators say: "We invite you to bravely join this game. In this eternal blue forest, one day we will forget the terror of confinement and fully immerse ourselves in this crazy contradiction. We will adventure alongside our glowing orbs—they are light, they are fire. That world we cannot destroy will ultimately become our eternal paradise."

All images courtesy of Blue Shackles

This article is originally written in Chinese, Mandarin:

束缚之莲: 一个我们不能改变的世界

在她们的作品中，女性的身体如同这个世界一样充满矛盾。

Featuring Blue Shackles Written by Seven Xu & Qiuyun Chen

束缚之莲由5名酷儿艺术家发起，超过20名中国女性集体创作。她们自称为“框架边缘的流亡者”。“蓝色是虚无与火焰交织而成的意外，这世界的自由领土在不断萎缩，剩下的则是不自由与相对不自由。”酷儿作家以残酷的词句描绘蓝色，同时她们通过身体的装置以同样的残酷回应：作为性少数、作为女性、作为外来者，她们没有被书写的故事，却邀请观众去体验痛苦、束缚与放纵。

酷儿艺术家们用蓝色绳索构建了一个残酷的世界：纠缠、密集、无处可逃。而在她们眼中，现实的世界比这个虚构的世界更为厚重、痛苦，甚至难以想象可以凭借身体穿透它。“你是一个女人，从小就被教导要顺从、稳定、善于牺牲、从一而终。你要成为妻子、配角、安抚者，绝不可表现出好奇心、淫荡、野心勃勃或情绪多变。如果某样东西让你感到愉悦，那或许是不道德的、需要克制的，是背德的。” 在她们的作品中，女性的身体如同这个世界一样充满矛盾。

束缚之莲装置中，钢架被密不透风的欲望之绳缠绕，杂乱而威胁，仿佛要崩溃。道德的钢架如穿越沙漠的标杆，却同时给另一群人提供了鞭笞的工具。人们感受到它如同一场沙尘暴，无法预测其变化，欲望在其中穿行，同时穿越观众的身体。然而，在黑石城沙漠的拟像世界中，在这群理想主义者亲手搭建的虚空中，人们得以看清它的构造，感知其肌理。裸足穿行其间，绳索的困扎会刺痛皮肤，勒割得疼痛感密集得像毛毯般包裹着。当穿越者被装置中的蓝线束缚时，她们会惊讶地发现——蓝线竟变成了一种包裹与慰藉。

于是，许多女性从四面八方，从社会枷锁的裂缝中，从道德伟岸的阴影里，步入蓝色的网络。她们如同无数次从欲望之海起航的孩童，驶入暗礁密布、迷雾重重的未知海域。穿越寂灭与狂欢，她们看到杂草重生，地面与海底颠倒，风暴般的压抑感笼罩一切。她们的皮肤与灵魂同欲望的丛林紧密相连，在黑暗中透现出一种生疼的光亮。她们看到了发光的小球，悬浮于头顶，流动于身体之中。它们如灯塔的光粒，虽无法捕捉，却照映出宇宙的密林与狂暴。有时，它们成了她们自己，终生逃逸，却无法被困住。它们如此微小，却充满力量。

创作者们说：“我们邀请你勇敢地参与这场游戏。在这片永恒的蓝色密林中，总有一天我们会忘记恐惧，完全投入到这个疯狂的矛盾之中，与光之小球一道冒险。它是光，是火焰，那无法摧毁的世界，终将成为我们自己的永恒乐园。”

Blue Shackles: A world we cannot destroy

Featuring Blue Shackles Written by Seven Xu & Qiuyun Chen

Blue Shackles: A world we cannot destroy

To the artists, the female body, like the world, is full of contradictions.

Featuring Blue Shackles Written by Seven Xu & Qiuyun Chen

束缚之莲: 一个我们不能改变的世界

在她们的作品中，女性的身体如同这个世界一样充满矛盾。

Featuring Blue Shackles Written by Seven Xu & Qiuyun Chen

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