Five Hours of A 1000 Yuan Worth Allegory of Love (excerpt)
Monica Demetté
The absolute novelty of this happening of the "Big Tail Elephant" group sees the artists facing new ways of expressing themselves. Place and time circumstances need a forceful, condense manifestation, which is much related to the immediate response of the viewers. So in Lin Yilin‘s "100 pieces and 1000 pieces" the meaning resides in the action rather than in the final result of his labour. The artist once again uses gray bricks, a material widely present in old Guangzhou' s building (now being replaced by concrete ), but for the first time these don't recall any architectural impression. A metal ladder, 100 bricks and 100 banknotes of 10 Yuan each, plus a boxing-glove are the chosen materials. Wearing the glove, Lin Yilin climbs the ladder and places on its top one brick, then another, Inserting a banknote between them. Then he keeps on building a sort of precarious construction of bricks and money, completing first all the steps of the ladder, then posing them on the floor nearby.
When all the bricks and money have been used up, he starts the "de-constructive" part of the action. He grabs a banknote and tears it causing the superposed brick to fall on the floor .Then he harshly beats the same brick on top of the money, until the brick has broken into pieces, and uses these pieces to build another, uneven, wall. Lin Yilin then throws the money to the astonished viewers, who react differently, either avoiding accurately any contact with the cash, or grabbing it enthusiastically. Some have been noticed setting fire to the money, others tried to collect as much as they could.
