Interview｜On Behalf Of: Li Ming

Li Ming: When I received the invitation to this exhibition, I initially thought of cake as a material. However, it was totally an intuition at that time. I just felt that in terms of an atmosphere and an emotion, I felt that the cake was very jumpy, happy, and celebratory, something that had this degree and meaning. But later, when I thought about the material, I felt that there was a big problem. The main problem of my creation this time was the word “masterpiece”. On the one hand, as an artist, from a subjective point of view, I believe it is very difficult to represent all your creations from your past works, or from one, two, or several pieces of works. I think each piece of work bears the weight of time and is more or less a piece of the whole artist’s puzzle. So if you take out one of the pieces, one corner, one piece, there is no way you can represent that whole piece of the puzzle. Unless you have a particularly strong symbol of your own, a symbol so silly that people think of you as soon as they see it. At this point, we are actually on the opposite side of the spectrum. This opposition, from an objective point of view, stands outside the artist’s own creation, such as the audience, the media, critics, the market or other factors. Sometimes, one of your masterpieces may be the one you exhibit the most. So I think, I think this exhibition, I think it is, well …… anyway, I gave myself a kind of rule this year, that is, I myself participate in every event, I can come up with new things, all do the latest things. But inside this exhibition, I thought how can I do one thing and at the same time it’s not a masterpiece that you pick out. I had a conversation with Kate and said that we felt the title was a paradox. On the one hand, you reject any work as your masterpiece, but as soon as you bring a work to this exhibition, it is defined as a masterpiece by the title of the exhibition – from this basic logic it is like this. So what was finally determined was that these are the words, right, and the most crucial words on the cake, which is: Become a player. It’s from the rule of finite game and infinite game, only when you become a player, you can know what you want to do. You have to define yourself, not people to define yourself. So, there are eighteen cakes here, for the eighteen people who participated in this exhibition, including the curators. It is also a kind of incitement. It is also a gift for everyone, and at the same time, it is a way for everyone to make a wish together. My own wish, perhaps, is that today is not my birthday or anything, so my wish today is that I can create a masterpiece in my lifetime. But other people’s wishes, let them think for themselves. Yes, that’s roughly it.

Q: What were you doing during the epidemic?

A: There is no difference now. Except that I can’t go abroad and so on, I still play with everyone in Hangzhou, and I don’t wear a mask much. Haha, I feel very safe already. Looking back on it, it was a strange feeling at the time. It was very interesting to see how tense it was. In the year 2020, when the epidemic first came out, I was sure I would “hang up” without a mask, and I would wear one at home. But now the number of people spreading has been increasing, but you feel that the virus may not be a threat to you anymore. I was very surprised anyway, and I think I’m not that unlucky.