Tunnel
Chen Wei
陈维
Production date
2007
Object Detail
Media
C-type print
Measurements
150 x 150 cm
Notes
Tunnel (2007) recalls stories of people imprisoned by their captors in suburbia. The window of a claustrophobically tiny room is boarded up; an overturned stool suggests an act of violence or desperation. Under a desk littered with paper and miscellaneous objects, a globe seems a mocking reminder of freedom of movement. The only trace of the previous occupant is the freshly turned earth and chunks of masonry around a hole dug, impossibly, through the carpeted floor. A Rat's Post Office (2008) reveals a disordered and depressing interior, a cell-like room lit by a single weak bulb in a cheap glass shade. A filthy mattress and tumbled grey blanket are surrounded by rats, who also run through the window and the piles of abandoned mail – envelopes and opened letters litter the small desk and the floor, some crumpled and others spilling from sacks. Pages torn from a wall calendar reveal the date at which time apparently stopped for the occupant of this gloomy space. Although these works seem like stage sets for post-apocalyptic absurdist dramas, Chen Wei finds his inspiration in the small events and conversations of daily life, his own dreams and childhood memories, as well as in the everyday horror to be found in the news media.
Accession number
2008.039