Shixiang
Photographing and viewing alternate. Participants encounter their own image and decide whether it becomes public.
Topic
One-on-one theatre: what it is, through P4 Theater’s one-to-one photography theatre Shixiang
What is one-on-one theatre?
One-on-one theatre is live work entered by a single participant at a time. In P4 Theater’s Shixiang (Real Image) it becomes one-to-one photography theatre: one person, one live relation, one camera and one image of oneself. Shooting alternates with looking at the photographs together, and the participant decides whether an image becomes public.
What “one-to-one” means at P4 Theater
P4 Theater calls Shixiang (Real Image) a one-to-one photography-theatre practice: one person, one live relation, one camera, one image of oneself. In P4’s archive, Real Image takes place between two people, a camera and whoever later looks at the photograph, and every act of imaging redistributes that relation. The camera does more than document; photographing, looking, meeting again and relational visibility form the work together.
Real Image 8½: after the shoot, looking together
He Fa’s 2020 text 何为实像 (What Is Real Image?) calls the arrangement “eight and a half”: eight parts in four seasons, two per season. Parts one, three, five and seven centre on shooting; parts two, four, six and eight on looking and speaking. The final “half” is revealed only after part eight, and the public record does not say what it is. The text names three dimensions, watching, performing and shooting: watching does not belong only to the photographer, nor performing only to the sitter.
Keeping is not the same as publishing
In Shixiang, participants meet their own image again and decide whether a photograph becomes public. This links to a method He Fa returns to often, the right to stop: a participatory work remains open only when people can pause, refuse, withdraw and decide whether an image may keep circulating.
Neighbouring forms
Other P4 works apply closeness to more people: Iceberg, intimate live theatre, had fifteen seats; Kill the Rose’s 3P method splits watching, performing and recording among different people. More in He Fa’s methods.
Related works
| Work | Year | Form (official) | He Fa’s role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shixiang (one-to-one photography theatre) | 2019–2020 | Photography theatre | Collaboration with Zhang Shaohua; theory, structure, framework and interpretation |
| Iceberg (intimate live theatre) | 2021–2022 | Intimate live theatre | Producer |
| Kill the Rose: 3P—Watching, Performing, Recording (3p: watching, performing, recording) | 2021 | Theatre event, 3P creative observation and exhibition proposal | 3P group creator; author of the 3P recruitment text |
Iceberg
A small office and fifteen spectators: spatial proximity becomes part of the work.
Kill the Rose: 3P—Watching, Performing, Recording
Cameras and writers enter rehearsal, making documentation a form of participation that can affect the event.
Videos to watch
Who Is Directing Whom? | A Rehearsal That Won’t Obey6:44
A Film Character Says “Stop.” What Changes Next?0:47Related ideas
Sources for this page (the official sites are authoritative)