Germany in 2003. What kind of differences are there between the drawing in this exhibition and the way you used painting/drawing in the past?

My previous paintings were usually all completed before being exhibited, but the performance exhibition “26 Days in OKS” was different. There was a camera installed that recorded my ongoing performance each day. When the audience entered the gallery, the first thing that caught their eye was the live documentation on the monitor from my real time performance. Then when they came into the space, they could see I was performing. At the same time, they could also see the outlined 26 performance concepts on a one-meter roll of paper that covered all the walls. Each performance concept included drawing, words and dates. When the audience looked at the concepts carefully, they could see they were constantly changing. This changing/evolving process was a very important part of the whole work. Through my different daily performances, the audience could feel this was not a pre-completed, but instead a changing and developing exhibition. Sometimes a few painters came to make drawings from my live performance, also some school teachers visited with their pupils, they communicated with me and at times they used it as an opportunity to do life drawing. These unexpected interactions brought a lot of interesting elements to the work.

Yingmei Duan, 26 Days in OKS, live performance, OKS Gallery in Braunschweig, 2003

Yingmei Duan, 26 Days in OKS, live performance, OKS Gallery in Braunschweig, 2003

You and Helge Karnagel’s collaborated performance installation “Painter and Model” was shown in the OKS Gallery in 2006. This work also involved painting, as far as I know, you like this work very much. Can you tell us more details about it?

Yes, I really like this work. For me it looks very normal but in fact it is unusual. For the past 15 years I had been doing life modelling in different art classes in Germany, and the artist Helge Karnagel usually attended these classes to draw. Helge has been drawing nude models all his life. In 2006, OKS Gallery (Oskar Kämmer school) held his solo exhibition titled “Nude, Spoor and Human”.

Yingmei Duan & Helge Karnagel, Painter and Model, live performance installation, OKS Gallery Braunschweig, 2006 (Photographer: Jürgen Bernhard Kuck)

Over the duration of his exhibition we collaborated on this interactive live performance installation “Painter and Model”. In this performance, I still appeared as a nude model and Helge had the role of painter. What differs from the past was I kept asking questions to Helge and he continued to answer my questions. We put some easels in the gallery, so that people could join in and also draw. From our dialogue people could learn more about his life, his art experiences and his life drawing. In general, by using different methods I combined performance with painting/drawing. I am very interested in encouraging the audience to participate.

Why did you come to the idea about exploring the relationship between painting and performance? For example, in 2007 you spent 6 weeks doing “Performance-Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists”. How did you try to explore the connection between performance and painting?

Yingmei Duan, Performance-Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists (Tehching Hsieh’s performance “ONE YEAR PERFORMANCE 1978-1979”), oil on canvas, Gallery auf Zeit Braunschweig, Germany, 2007

Yingmei Duan, Performance-Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists (Vito Acconci’s performance “Following 1969”), oil on canvas, Gallery auf Zeit Braunschweig, Germany, 2007

Yingmei Duan, Performance-Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists (Alexandra Gneissl’s performance “Geist der Zeit 2005”), oil on canvas, Gallery auf Zeit Braunschweig, Germany, 2007

Yingmei Duan, Performance-Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists (Eun Hye Hwang’s performance “I am Eun Hye 2003”), oil on canvas, Gallery auf Zeit Braunschweig, Germany, 2007

Yingmei Duan, Performance- Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists (Dr. Johannes Lothar Schröder’s “Performance-Record 2005”), oil on canvas, Gallery auf Zeit Braunschweig, Germany, 2007

Since I decided to concentrate on doing performance art in the class of Marina Abramović, I had not painted for many years. But I know I like painting very much and have a lot of feeling for painting. There were a few years I tried to make performances based on paintings by different artists.

With the continuous accumulation and improvement of my performance experiences, I have been thinking about the relationship between painting and performance. How can one use a painting to express a performance? In the “Performance-Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists” (2007), I consciously explore and study the connection between performance art and painting.

Originally I wanted to express my previous performance works by painting, but I thought there might be a better way. Therefore, I wrote to 40 performance artists asking their permission to create a painting from one of their performances. The results astonished me. 36 artists replied that they agreed and were very happy to participate in this work. However, three of the artists answered after the exhibition opened, so I decided to only collaborate with 33 artists.

There was a lot of preparation for this work. Two art historians Sarah Pfingsten and Jürgen Bernhard Kuck helped me to collect and organise the information on each performance artist. During the exhibition, according to the different artists works, I also used different styles in painting, such as realism, expressionism, abstraction, etc.

Between 2010 and 2011, you realised the performance charity project “Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice” in collaboration with the hospice, what are the differences between the paintings in this project and before?

Yingmei Duan, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, oil on canvas, 2010

Yingmei Duan, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, oil on canvas, 2010

Yingmei Duan, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, oil on canvas, 2010

Yingmei Duan, Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, oil on canvas, 2010

I did this performance concept maybe because of my family. I also always wished to develop my performance art in connection with charity. This work included several different parts and painting was one of them. The paintings were all about the children, their families and staff in the hospice. Through chatting with them plus getting to know them and their feelings I made the paintings. The conversations mainly included childhood, family, hopes, fears, etc. Afterwards all 24 paintings were donated to the hospice. In my previous paintings and also the paintings in “Performance-Painting / Dialogue with 33 Performance Artists” which we just discussed, I mainly focused on my own feelings. In this work “Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice” there were not only my own feelings but also the wishes of my collaborators for example they might input they like bright colours and a cheerful atmosphere in the works. In fact, I also made two children’s books inspired by the different people I met there. One of which was based on these oil paintings and the other was hand-drawn.

“Happy Yingmei” is an ongoing performance. It was shown for the first time in Lilith Performance Studio in Malmö in 2011, and then you also realised this performance in a few other countries. “Wishes” written with text and drawing on slips of paper were used in this work. What is the role of drawing in this work?

The slip of paper was an important way to interact with people. There were all kinds of information on the paper including words or drawings. Realising “Happy Yingmei” for the first time there was only text on paper but during the exhibition, I discovered that the audience was from many different countries, and using various languages. They were also different ages, from newborn babies to very elderly people. In order to let people from different cultures and ages join in easily and interact, I added drawings to the notes for the time.

Yingmei Duan, Happy Yingmei, live performance installation, 19th Biennale of Sydney, Australia, 2014

Yingmei Duan, Happy Yingmei, live performance installation, 19th Biennale of Sydney, Australia, 2014

In 2014 the live performance installation “Happy Yingmei” was presented in the 19th Biennale of Sydney for two and a half months, the methods of interaction with the audience became more and more enriching with time. Compared with previous versions of this performance the role of drawing in “Happy Yingmei” became much more important in Sydney. Sometimes I gave the audience a slip of paper with a drawing or a blank sheet to let them draw, and they could also draw on the wall. When the biennale ended, I preserved and kept this section of the wall, which was full of interactive drawings because there were so many wonderful memories on it.

“Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism” was an interactive project that explored performance and drawing in 2014. What new challenges emerged through this collaboration?

Yuan Cai, Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism, drawing on the wall, OCCA, 2014

Yuan Cai, Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism, drawing on windows, OCCA, 2014

Yingmei Duan, Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism, drawing on paper, OCCA, 2014

Yingmei Duan, Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism, drawing on paper, OCCA, 2014

Yingmei Duan, Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism, drawing on paper, OCCA, 2014

Yingmei Duan, Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism, drawing on paper, OCCA, 2014

Yingmei Duan, Yuan Cai&Yingmei Duan: Optimism, drawing on paper, OCCA, 2014

The project in collaboration with Yuan Cai in 2014 explored the relationship between performance and painting/drawing. Both of us are originally from China and have been living in Europe for many years. Performance is the main form of expression in our artworks, but previously we began painting/drawing, so we both have a deep feeling about this medium. In the project, we used different “Drawing” methods to make our works. I mainly used traditional tools for example pencils to draw using memory and imagination from the past, present, and future. It was a space anyone could come into and interact with us, they could also make their own art creations or collaborate with us in various ways. During the project, different types of “Drawings” such as installations, drawings or texts remained in the gallery.

Exhibition space, Yuan Cai&Yingme Duan: Optimism, OCCA, 2014 (Photographer: Jenny Kidd)

I have found that the topic “Father and Mother” has been expressed in your works several times in different ways. In 2015 you collaborated on an art project “Father and Mother” with the Martino Katharineum (MK) middle school in the city you live. How did you come up with the idea for the art project related to parents and in collaboration with the school?

I have always been very interested in this topic. When I was 16 years old, I left my parents home to go and learn in another high school, so the time I spent with my family was very short. For everything that I have today, I am so fortunate and thankful to my parents.

In March 2015, in honour of the 600th anniversary of MK middle School, I was invited by Hanna Märgner-Bea (Director of the Department of Research), to show and develop my “Father and Mother” art project. In order to support me, Hanna focused on the topic of parents as her main teaching point. The entire project consisted of several different parts and the final time of completion was at the end of 2016.

Hanna Märgner-Bea)

The idea for the project “Father and Mother” in MK middle school originally came about in 2012. When I was performing “Happy Yingmei” in the Hayward Gallery in London, an old man was very interested in the topic of “Father and Mother” in this performance. He told me after a video concerning fast food was shown in British schools, the number of children eating fast food decreased a lot. He thought that if the topic of parents could also be brought into schools, it would be very helpful and meaningful. His imput inspired me a lot. From then on, I was hoping and planning to collaborate with a school on the “Father and Mother” topic.

In the last interview, I noticed that the art project “Father and Mother” is composed of many parts, including different mediums such as installation, painting, and performance, as well as lectures, exhibitions, and live events. Could you please tell us more about the works that involved painting?

First of all, my paintings from different phases in the past were exhibited at MK, including paintings from the East Village period, Songzhuang art colony and from Germany. Through this show the students and teachers could have a basic understanding of my work. My paintings were used as part of the teaching materials for the school, so teachers and their pupils from different classes came to visit. With the guidance from their teachers, the pupils expressed their opinions in an oral conversation or wrote them down.

Students expressing their impressions, MK Middle School, 2015

As my artistic career can encourage students, therefore I was often invited to give lectures to them. I attended Hanna’s class twice a week to join her lessons with different pupils. In addition to the theme of parents she also brought in the topic of family to the students, she let them do research and then create a presentation in class. Since I came from a different cultural background I was also very interested to learn more about art education in Germany. Experiencing their art classes was an important part of this project for me.

During this time, I also realised a 5 day interactive performance installation in the open studio “Several Pens, Several Sheets of Paper, Chairs and Tables”. It was a space where the students, parents, teachers and visitors could meet and communicate about the parents topic. People could participate in different live performance installations and express their opinions about parents in various ways. Some of the installations also involved different drawing exercises such as trying to draw a portrait of a parent from memory, their parents’ favourite flowers; imagining themselves in the future- having their own family, and drawing a picture to express how they hope their experiences with their own children will be.

Several Pens, Several Sheets of Paper, Chairs and Tables, interactive performance installation, MK Middle School, 2015

Several Pens, Several Sheets of Paper, Chairs and Tables, interactive performance installation, MK Middle School, 2015

Several Pens, Several Sheets of Paper, Chairs and Tables, interactive performance installation, MK Middle School, 2015

Several Pens, Several Sheets of Paper, Chairs and Tables, interactive performance installation, MK Middle School, 2015

There was a very important phase of the project in which I met and chatted individually with 19 pupils. Through our meetings I learnt the relationship between children and parents in German families as well as the relationships in divorced families. Originally I wanted to create a painting with them, but since they were busy finishing exams for the end of high school, I finished the paintings by myself. The content of the paintings concerned their parents, family and their lives.

Yingmei Duan, Father & Mother series, oil on canvas, MK Middle School, 2015-2016

Yingmei Duan, Father & Mother series, oil on canvas, MK Middle School, 2015-2016

Yingmei Duan, Father & Mother series, oil on canvas, MK Middle School, 2015-2016

Later, these paintings were exhibited in the school for about six months. At the same time, the teachers and pupils could look at the works and discuss the topic of parents.

Here is the last question, which may not be related to our interview. What is the main factor that made you achieve your artistic dream?

I always want to be in a state of creativity.

Through this interview with you, I got to know about your artistic experiences from creating paintings in the East Village to making and researching performance art in Germany. You have always retained your curiosity about art. Keeping going slowly with insistence, not having to compare yourself with others. You keep on doing what you love to do and it’s part of your lifestyle. I have learnt how you enjoy the working process. It has surely opened my point of view to a wider perspective on your artworks.