DSL Magazine: Issue 11

63 Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream (2015) Inspired by the livestreaming apps that were growing in popularity around the mid-2010s, Ye Funa worked with performance artist Beiou 北鸥 on Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream, a series of online events taking place on different Chinese live-streaming platforms like Re Bo Jian, LeTV, Dough, and Bilibili. Each Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream episode featured guests selected via an open call, who were invited to perform in exchange for virtual gifts--a feature the live-streaming platforms they used allowed audiences to give performers. This collaboration between Ye Funa and Beiou included scripted and rehearsed performances but also mimicked the aesthetics of popular livestreamers, thereby, responding to a particular moment in the history of the Chinese internet when users were discovering the voyeuristic pleasure of peeping into each other’s livestreamed lives and experimenting with new forms of visual self-representation. Web screenshot of promotional materials for Exhibitionist: PeeP Stream. Courtesy of the artist.