The Kiss

2025

Materials: Gourds, brass, flexible tubing, and bamboo bored by carpenter bees

On bamboo fences in Shanghai’s old neighbourhoods, some bamboo poles can be found with regular, circular holes in their sides. These holes are made by carpenter bees (Xylocopa), which transform the bamboo into nesting chambers where they store pollen and raise their young. Once the new generation emerges, the bees fly out through the holes and begin a new journey. These urban-dwelling creatures are adept at developing their own spatial language within the boundaries and barriers created by humans.

I collected bamboo that the carpenter bees had finished using and turned it into a series of experimental instruments. The holes naturally bored into the bamboo form their own musical scale. In other words, these instruments were made collaboratively by the bees and me.

When the instruments are played, they carry the echoes of the bamboo’s hollow chambers and the carpenter bees’ life cycle, responding to the seasons, wind, life, and time. The act of blowing into them echoes the bees’ gestures of gnawing and gathering pollen, reminding me of a kiss.

Commissioned by the 15th Shanghai Biennale

吻

2025

材质：带有木蜂蛀孔的竹子、木头、葫芦、黄铜、软管等

在上海老街区的竹篱笆上，有时会发现其中一些竹子侧壁有着规则的圆孔。这是木蜂蛀出的孔，木蜂将竹子改造成了它们的育婴房。它们在其中储存花粉、孕育后代。新一代羽化后从孔中飞走，开始新的历程。这些生活在城市的生物很擅长在人类划定的边界屏障中，拓展出了自己的空间语言。

我收集了木蜂使用完毕的竹子，制作成实验乐器。竹子上这些由木蜂啃咬出的，既偶然又必然的孔位，此刻构成了天然的音阶。也就是说，这些乐器是蜂类与我共同制作完成的。吹奏时，响起的是竹子空腔与竹蜂生命历程的回声，回应着季节、风、生命与时间。吹奏的动作，与竹蜂啃咬、采粉的姿态相互呼应，让我想到了“吻”。

由第十五届上海双年展“花儿听到蜜蜂了吗”委任创作