The Everest Incident
Jin Feng
金锋
Production date
2015
Object Detail
Media
two-channel video (colour, sound)
Measurements
23 min 7 sec
Notes
‘The Everest Incident’ was initially created for an exhibition in Shanghai in 2015, ‘I Can’t Be Part of Your Revolution’, a collaboration between the artist and theatre director Huang Fengling. They chose Mount Everest, the highest peak on earth, as a metaphor for human aspiration: “Whether it is political conquest, late-capital sport, or pure status, Mount Everest has become the ultimate stage for not only pitting man against nature, but also man against man.” The ascent of Everest connected not just with personal aspiration but also with nationalist ambition, as first British, then French, then Chinese and then American climbers ‘conquered’ the mountain. By 2012, Everest had been climbed 5,656 times with 223 deaths. Today, Jun Feng says, with an average cost of over US$100,000 to reach the summit, it has become a rich man’s sport to the extent that in recent years some deaths have been due to the long queues waiting their turn to ascend. Jin Feng and Huang Fengling connect the ascent of Everest with the mythology of success and aspirationalism where money equals success and freedom. They say, “The mountain becomes a stage for absurd theatrics wherein the rituals and ideals that we are programmed to adopt as our own go awry, ultimately leading us to the artist’s maxim ‘I can’t be part of your revolution’. I will make my own.” The video uses ‘found’ footage downloaded from the Internet, examining our endangered planet, from the ocean to the highest peak – Mount Everest.
Accession number
2016.183