Nottingham Contemporary

Ye Funa’s practice concerns the boundaries between daily life and contemporary art. Her work explores the effects of new media and globalisation on cultural identity and gender. For our exhibition, Ye produced a new episode in her online Peep-Stream series, addressing society’s current desire to display ourselves through selfies, webchats and social media. Ping-Pong Stream, an interactive live streamed performance, focuses on China’s waning interest in ping pong in favour of celebrity sports of basketball and football. Produced in The Space at Nottingham Contemporary, Ping Pong Stream tells the story of Yong Ping, a former Ping Pong World Champion.

The final video is embedded in an immersive installation that converts the Project Space into a nail salon. Here, nails become the exhibition space through which Ye artificially reforms the natural extremities of the body.

Nail technicians from Nottingham College are in the gallery on various dates throughout the exhibition.