Cannot Help Them (Bubble City, Bubble Life)
Chen Hangfeng
陈航峰
Production date
2010
Media
bubble machine, IV drip, metal cage
Measurements
200 x 200 x 200 cm
Notes
Cannot Help Them (Bubble City Bubble Life) was inspired by Chen Hangfeng’s response to the monetary and social cost of the Shanghai Expo in 2010. An IV drip filled with soap is linked up to a bubble-making machine encased inside a wire cage. When the bubble machine is turned on it releases swarms of bubbles which collide with the wire mesh of the cage and either stick to it or burst. Only a few of the very lucky ones will manage to escape through holes in the cage. The installation thus symbolises the contrast between ideals and reality, dreams and hopes. The bubble is a metaphor for a beautiful utopia (which will never be realised) representing the utopian ideals of Expo. The IV drip is a metaphor for the human energy and resources pumped into Shanghai to provide life support for this dream. The wire cage references the social structures we live in; we can see through them, but we cannot really change them. Very few bubbles are brave enough to “break” the system and release themselves.
Accession number
2013.103