Methods of He Fa and P4 Theater: photography theatre, participatory theatre and workshops
His work rarely “films an object”. It designs a situation people enter, where camera, space, rules and another person decide the image and the action together. The four cards are quoted from P4 Theater’s He Fa page; the table shows the forms these methods took in specific works.
Four method cards
Photography begins with an encounter
A photograph is not only the result of pressing a shutter. Distance, trust, hesitation, staging, and the right to refuse already shape the image.
The camera is inside the relation
Once someone speaks toward the lens, moves because it is present, or takes it from another person, filming becomes an action within the event.
Watching without possession
To see another person does not grant ownership of their meaning. Non-sovereign spectatorship asks the viewer to remain close without turning partial understanding into a final verdict.
Stopping is part of participation
A participatory work remains open only when people can pause, refuse, withdraw, and decide whether an image or story may continue beyond the encounter.
Source：P4 Theater’s He Fa page
Forms in specific works
| Form | Work | Year | Medium (official) | He Fa’s role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-to-one photography theatre | Shixiang | 2019–2020 | Photography theatre | Collaboration with Zhang Shaohua; theory, structure, framework and interpretation |
| Intimate live theatre | Iceberg | 2021–2022 | Intimate live theatre | Producer |
| Participatory theatre and role-play | Purples / Purple Action | 2021 | Participatory theatre, role-playing and experiments in organisation | Co-initiated with Shen Bolun and Shao Yifan |
| Interactive theatre and voting games | Saturday Four-Hour Duel Club | 2021–2023 | Interactive theatre, a voting game and a transcript archive | Purples co-initiation and collaborative development of its game models |
| Deliberation game | Final Solution | 2021 | Participatory theatre, a deliberation game and process documentation | Purples co-initiation, participation in assemblies and authored reflection |
| P4U immersive theatre | 控诉爱情失败后的中间派自救指南 | 2021 | P4U immersive theatre; associated writing | Author of the signed announcement “Who Are the Centrists?” |
| P4X workshop | How to Eat a Banana? | 2021 | P4X workshop | Initiator |
| 3P: watching, performing, recording | Kill the Rose: 3P—Watching, Performing, Recording | 2021 | Theatre event, 3P creative observation and exhibition proposal | 3P group creator; author of the 3P recruitment text |
| Collective creation | Vortex | 2022 | North Wind Theatre collective creation | Collective creator, member of the announced performing roster, author of a signed article |
| Collective puppet-making and role-play | Happiness Kingdom | 2023 | Collective puppet-making, role play and an evolving theatrical environment | Co-design of formats, rules and models, and organisation through P4 |
| Interview archives | Personal Chronicle / PHA | 2023 | Interview archives, collective creation and public documentation | Author of the framework and declaration; P4 project organisation |
| Residency | World Question Center: Hangzhou Residency and A Common Festival | 2022 | Residency, collective rehearsal, interactive performance and work in public space | One of five project initiators; a named performer in A Common Festival |
| Photographic montage | 山重水复 | 2012 | Photography, digital montage, light boxes | Artist |
| Multi-screen video installation | YourTube | 2018 | Multi-screen video installation | Artist; graduate thesis work |
One-to-one photography theatre: Shixiang (Real Image)
P4 Theater calls Shixiang a one-to-one photography-theatre practice: one person, one live relation, one camera, one image of oneself. Photographing and viewing alternate; participants meet their own image and decide whether it becomes public. → Shixiang · → The right to stop
Workshops
The P4X workshop How to Eat a Banana? (2021), initiated by He Fa: a familiar act becomes a question to experience together. →
Theory
AGT · Action generated through relations · Relational Image Theory