Purge (Performance)

Artist: Xiao Lu

Performance time: Afternoon, 31 May 2013

Location: Museo Diocesana di Venezia, Venice, Italy.

Material: Body

Exhibition: The Grand Canal-55# International Art Exhibition

Exhibition period: 31 May - 24 November 2013

Curator: Xiao Ge

About “ Purge”

Nietzsche said: “God is dead!”

Xiao Lu carried a bucket of sediment dug out of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in China to The Grand Canal Exhibition in preparation to smear it all over herself before jumping into the Canal Grande in Venice and washing the sediment off her body. This performance work was refused by the Museo Diocesano of Venice, Italy, on the grounds that nudity - even covered by mud - is not allowed in church. In this specific context Xiao Lu stripped off her clothes during the opening ceremony, walked through the twelfth-century cloister courtyard, rushed out of the Museo Diocesano and jumped into the Canal Grande for a swim in the nude. The Museo immediately locked the main entrance to the Exhibition. On the following day, the Museo Diocesano di Venezia carried out a thorough cleaning. This was a fortuitous performance. 

With her naked body, Xiao Lu asked the question: “Is God dead?”

Xiao Lu