Pause

“Pause” is a project that combines installations and videos, exploring the state of people and memories that have been left behind during the process of industrialization and deindustrialization in northern China.

In the industrial system of the 20th century, factories were not only production spaces but also the core structure for organizing daily life, shaping a highly collective lifestyle and shared experiences. However, with the advancement of state-owned enterprise reforms in the 1990s, this system collapsed rapidly within a short period of time. A large number of factories were closed, and people were forced to relocate. The spaces and systems that had once held memories vanished simultaneously.

The installation is centered around a rotating structure. It operates continuously but cannot move forward, presenting a tension between the flow of time and the stagnation of space. The horses wrapped in resin are frozen in different actions, creating a state of suspension. The corresponding images and sounds further enhance this incomprehensible experience.

This project focuses on the state of memory when it is deprived of its context: a kind of suspension that is neither preserved nor understood.

By creating a fictional life story of a horse, the work establishes a metaphorical narrative structure. As an animal that has long been involved in human production and migration, the horse’s path closely coincides with human history, yet it is rarely recorded. In this project, the horse’s migration corresponds to human mobility, while the horse’s rest and abandonment symbolize those memories that have stagnated in place.

The project “Pause” invites the audience to perceive and reflect on a certain state.
As time continues to move forward, certain memories remain in place, persisting and existing, but no longer being incorporated into the current narrative. Maybe one day, everything we are familiar with will also become the heritage of a paused state in history.