The Cave with a Wheeze

20’00” in loop/ 2021

In this fixed-point stop-motion animation, ‘The Cave with a Wheeze,’ Lau draws one carbon-black being after another on a 2m x 3m white wall using charcoal. The beings walk from the edge to gather in the centre of the frame. Depicted, documented and erased – Lau repeats this cycle with each step of each being. The crowd of beings grows until the wall is filled with hundreds of them. Lau then begins wiping the charcoal dust with her hands, attempting to revert the wall back to its original white state. The clock in the upper left corner reflects the time in reality of Lau’s working (starting at noon), in parallel to the condensed time in the animation. In the summer of 2020, Lau spent a lot of time in her studio contemplating this white wall. The idea of ‘filling the wall with bodies’ began to form, bringing us the work ‘The Cave with a Wheeze.’

Sound: wo4
Title calligraphy: Lokto