KONICHIWA!
(OSLO 2016)A false gift - gold paper cranes adorned with a collection of microagressions - served with a smile.
ni hao! / konichiwa! / translate this into chinese / but you speak korean no? / how did you learn to speak such good english? / do you speak english? / your english is amazing / but where are you really from? / is that your european name? / what is your real name? / but what’s your asian name? / but don’t you have a ching chong name? / are you halal? / it’s ok i have yellow fever / you’re pretty for a malasian / i had an asian girlfriend once / where in china is that? / go back to hong kong / wasn’t there just a coup in your country? / all chinese people hate japanese people right? / don’t be such a jew / we can just hire a polish cleaner / can i pay you to clean my house? / you look like a monkey
Part two of the performance involved sitting on the floor in a false kimono with traditional Japanese music playing in the background. I taught visitors to the exhibition to fold paper cranes while we discussed our boundaries and definitions of racism. Using personal anecdotes based on the given remarks, the conversations took on lives of their own and visitors discussed among themselves what I had simply initiated.