DSL Magazine: Issue 13

38 The Empty City marked an ostentatious unease. In 2003, back in her hometown of Wanzhou, artist Chen Qiulin wanders through an urban, forest, residential setting. As a military figure, decked out in a communist officer costume, she firmly holds large colorful balloons: temporal nonsense. Her face wears a light cosmetic mask. This gauze allows performative distancing. In her series of videos, she manages to poetically and fiercely denounce the Three Gorges Dam project, the largest electro-hydraulic power station in the world, which could eventually engulf half of her city and leave dramatic environmental consequences.