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M+, Hong Kong, © Xu Zhen
On View
Mediatheque
Xu Zhen 徐震
8848-1.86
2005
Mount Everest is the tallest peak in the world. The border between Nepal and China runs across its summit. Xu Zhen’s 8848-1.86 opens with these facts about the mountain, which he and two of his friends climbed together. Xu states in the video that his intention in climbing Everest was not solely to reach the summit; rather, he wanted to saw off a piece of it. The mountain is sacred in the Sherpa Buddhist religion, making this act supremely disrespectful. Facing temperatures below thirty degrees Celsius and extreme winds, Xu and his friends accomplished this feat, selecting a piece with a height of 186 centimetres—the same height as the artist. The absurdity of their task calls to mind the vanity and hubris in the human desire to achieve or ‘conquer’ something.
The footage is shot with documentary veracity, which Xu overlays with presentation-style drawings and annotations, following his narration. These contribute to the apparent objectivity of the piece. Nonetheless, it remains difficult to believe. Did Xu and his friends really climb Everest for the sake of an artwork?
The footage is shot with documentary veracity, which Xu overlays with presentation-style drawings and annotations, following his narration. These contribute to the apparent objectivity of the piece. Nonetheless, it remains difficult to believe. Did Xu and his friends really climb Everest for the sake of an artwork?
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