Liu Wei
Liu Wei | China b.1965 | Wangque de Yitian (A Day to Remember) 2005 | Betacam SP transferred to digital video, colour, stereo, 13 minutes, China, Mandarin (English subtitles); ed. 4/6 | Purchased 2011. John Darnell Bequest | Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | © The artist
The Hand, the Eye & the Heart | 1 October 2011 — 12 February 2012 | GOMA | Free admission
On the 16th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Liu Wei returned to the city square and nearby Beijing University to ask pedestrians and students: ‘Do you know what day it is today?’ Liu’s question is met with a mixture of evasive answers and silence. Led by students and intellectuals, the largely non-violent, pro-democracy demonstration resulted in a military response that left several hundred people dead and many more injured. An ongoing effort to erase the incident from both historical record and cultural memory means that information in the media is still suppressed, combined with widespread arrests of protesters and supporters, rendering the public unable to speak of, or even recall, the events for fear of reprisal. As a participant in the protests, Liu seeks to reclaim the 1989 uprising and to acknowledge its profound effects.
