PROJECT:WEARESTAR | 3lla Wang Olsson

STARDOM

DAO DE JING

SOCIETY OF ACEPHALE

I've always been a party girl. I love the adventure- the deviant energy of a night out, the performance of play and dress up and the powerful experience of dance. It is something that I've had curiosity towards since age 14, when I started partying in Shanghai. Back then I didn't drink, and was simply observing the night time owls around me.

On the dance floor I feel like a star

Stardom and it's performance

This year (2025) I picked up 4 books that have proven to be incredibly important to me. The first was the Dao De Jing and The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine. The two books give a thorough introduction to the teaching of Dao by Lao Tzu and how it related to the universe and our bodies:

Man is a microcosm that reflects the macrocosm of the universe.

I was specifically drawn to the Dao's reflections on releasing Desire, the co-dependence between Yin and Yang and the orientation of the world in relation to our bodies. It inspired me to develop props and characters:

This beginning led me to create a performance for Art Basel called 'Three Stars and a lack of a better world', which embodied the story of Past, present and future through Dao (Chaos - Modernity - Unity).

DAO OF HEAVEN

DAO OF EARTH

DAO OF MAN

COSMIC STAR

STAR FISH

STAR FRUIT

Character One:
DESIRE

Who am i?

I am a pitbull. A rich man. With a big diamond earring and curled gel black hair. My teeth are diamond black. My eyes are pitch black too. But my smile shines brighter than any starry night sky.

He gifts you false promises through visionary plans of logic and light.

By creating those visions it feels as tho the decision has been made. And your impulses lead you exactly there.

Society of Headless people
and Mian Mian

The third book I picked up was The Sacred Conspiracy by Georges Bataille which is a collection of text from Bataille's secret society: Society of Acephale. It was interesting encountering this book, as I had been fascinated by the symbol of the headless person early when I was still in Art School. Upon reading the book, I was immediately hooked specifically towards the texts talking about 'festival'.

I found an interesting parallel to the ways Bataille wrote about the festival to that of my experience with partying:

"revolutionary action may proceed from the exhilaration of the festival, which was the opposite in every way to the sombre mortuary symbolism of facism"

"Progression from the effervescence of carnival to that of revolution"

"The will to celebrate is a profound will for death"

"Life can only consist of a contradictory alternation between action and celebration"

on system and performance:

"System of total presentation as the origional form of exchange in archaic societies. Presentation meaning - performance of something that is promised"

"Communities within a system carry exchanges, make contracts and are bound by obligation"

"Our societies teach us that our origins are based on bartering - instead it is a performative transaction - We are obliged to perform according to an unspoken promise."

"Man, having become lost, isolated himself before becoming his own labyrinth, formed out of the composite structures of his being and mediate by words, which means he is an autonomous being only arbitrarily, but is profoundly a being in relasion. Man therefore find it easy to join with a whole that transcends him (party)"

I felt a deep connection with these words and could place them in my current experience to the reasons I party and the observations I've made. This was especially true with my performance research as xiexie3lla.

Masks, play, debauchery, ego

I created two video works. The first is called 'notes on Acephale' that is now currently on display at ABYSS Club in Shanghai. An infamous club for hard dance, techno and speed core. The second is 'The Celebration'.

The final book is called Candy and it is written by Mian Mian, a Shanghai underground writer and music promoter who captures a very raw and honesty view on Shanghai night life and experience in the 90s and 2000s. I have deep feelings for this book, as it relates with my experiences in Shanghai. Even though things have changed a lot in Shanghai club and underground culture, it is fascinating to read this book which describes Shanghai only 30 years ago. in my opinion, the spirit of what Mian Mian writes about is still present in Shanghai today.

previous wood cut print 2021