Terracotta objects, Performance

Digital Film, 1:16
Documentary Cast: Ji Fan, Zhou Xin
Soundtrack & FX: Zhao Jiajing

This project intended to give a contemporary interpretation to a boar’s head rhyton cup from V&A ceramic archive. The rhyton cup has two openings and was used for drinking or filtering liquids at rituals and animal sacrifices in Ancient Greece. It is filled through the large opening and emptied through the secondary, smaller one at the bottom. Some scholars believe that a rhyton was typically filled with the help of two people at least and the one who drink from it could only keep drinking unless the other stopped pouring. This process represents God’s power over people. For my interpretation, I designed a wine cup by joining two cones together, allowing liquids smoothly go along its surface. I kept the functionality of the Greek rhyton cup but turned what’s originally inside out. The film records the way it is used and reflects a modern power relationship in social situations under Asian cultural background.