Biography
Born in Guangzhou in 1964, Guangdong Province, China, Lin Yilin studied sculpture at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, graduating in 1987. Lin Yilin through performance found his way to think about present.
His poetics are expressed through urban interventions and site specific performances. It draws on China’s socio-economic conditions, political landscape and cultural experiences; reinvents the relationships between communities and environments in a globalized context.
Lin Yilin through performance uses his experiences as an immigrant to the United States as a starting point for many of his works.
Safely Manuevering across Linhe Road
Lin became known for his installations made with stackable bricks inserted in an urban context, thanks also to his involvement in the Big Tail Elephant Working Group, which founded in 1990 was fundamental for a reflection on the state of China’s urban development. Lin’s best-known work is in fact “Safely Manuevering across Linhe Road” (1995), where the artist moved a pile of bricks across a main road in Guangzhou for ninety minutes. He built a brick wall on the side of the road and then removed it row by row and reassembled it in the middle of the street. Repeating the same gesture, he brought the wall across the street. This performance turned a stable wall into a moving wall and also stopped heavy traffic.
Symbolically, the brick for Lin is linked to architectural construction and destruction, it also indicates urbanization and social transformation. The artist intervened on a public site with his body and represented the rapid urbanization which we easily forget despite being very evident.
For other contemporary artists: Contemporary
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