WORK / LIVE 干活 Wu Shuqing 武淑清

From 11 May 2016, as the second project of the Work, Live series, Arrow Factory turned its modest storefront into an intimate tableau: Sensual Love of the Fingertips, a video installation by Wu Shuqing 武淑清 and the Social Sensibility Institute. The whole glass façade was masked except for one discreet opening, making the work a solitary viewing experience that hints at forbidden peeping.

Inside, a video shows Wu’s hands performing the essential actions of her daily life. For an assembly-line worker, hands are vital to the job; for Wu, they are also bound to a rich emotional life. Layered with her own aphorisms and insights, the repetition of simple gestures turns ordinary acts into choreography. The small scale draws viewers close into her personal orbit, paying attention to overlooked details and sharing her delight in the ordinary.

Wu Shuqing (born 1979, Beijing) assembles valve actuators on the line at Bernard Controls and trains new employees.

Text adapted from the Arrow Factory introduction.