Zhou Jie Solo Exhibition – 36 days opened recently in the Beijing Now Gallery. Zhou Jie, a young female artis and graduate from the Sculpture Department of CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts), will expose her whole life to the public for 36 days. This will include sleeping in the nude on a wire bed. Her photos, unveiled on her Microblog, have aroused controversy.

"I'm not trying to manufacture a newsworthy gimmick," says Zhou. "I just want to expose everything about my life for the duration of the show. I can choose to sleep with or without clothes. The decision is totally unpredictable, just like life."

For 36 days, Zhou Jie will live in the exhibition hall and sleep in an unfinished single bed made of iron wire accompanied by a set of wire braided 'toys'. The bed and the toys are unfinished artworks created by Zhou Jie. For the show, she has enough food to live on for a month, several sets of clothes, three transparent trash cans, and a mobile phone. "I will use most of the time to finish my wire artworks. I will eat and rest when I feel like it. I can also use the phone to surf the internet or play games."

"I often sleep naked - that's why I chose to sleep in the nude at the opening ceremony. A person feels a more intense relationship with a bed when naked. My boyfriend was also there at the opening ceremony. He told me that genuine art lovers won't judge me, they will try to understand what I want to express in the show," Zhou says.

Talking about the criticism and negative comments from netizens, she said that these comments also constitute a part of her performance art and increase the diversity of the artwork.  

This article is edited and translated from 周洁“36天”裸睡铁丝床引热议：这是我自由选择, Source: Beijing News