Zihan Lui

"Mental Rules and Repeated Actions"

Section MS8, Raha Farazmand

Keywords: video, installation, performance, repetition

This project examines how self-imposed rules and repeated actions shape everyday behaviour. The daily routine is governed by strict personal mandates: formulating a "good word" before any task and repeating actions until they reach a count of seven. These repetitions are not symbolic performances but necessary requirements driven by an internal logic. Over time, the original meaning fades, leaving the action to persist solely to satisfy the rule.

The work centres on behaviours that organise the day—locking doors, switching lights, and washing hands—captured through auto-ethnography. The installation utilises five separate devices playing different repeated actions simultaneously, all sourced from a single day. This multi-screen format avoids linear narrative, presenting repetition as a fragmented, parallel structure.

An accompanying printed list details these behaviours, its deliberate excess highlighting the exhaustion of maintaining such order. By engaging with "Critical Refusal" through over-compliance, the work explores how repetition separates an action from its purpose, turning private routines into a visible, enduring structure.