PLEASE, BE SOFT, LET ME DIE

30mins

WITHIN, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong

2026

請先不要作聲。

白天與黑夜交接之時天色即將昏暗。你們與我們之間呼吸滲透無限罅隙。山中的霧更為綿密了。請在回頭時不要跟他們的雙眼對上。陰陽交替間心臟最容易浮動。請你們在刀刃下變得柔軟。放鬆。沒有痛楚。讓它退卻。讓我進去。我可以進去嗎。請你放鬆。天快要暗了。別怕黑。烈火很快到來僅僅是瞬間。別怕燃燒。請你放鬆。不會疼痛的。放心。記憶突襲而來。影像如風。我能忘掉嗎。我需要思念嗎。放鬆。速度如搖曳的風。它會匆匆離開嗎。你能忘記嗎。我可以睡去嗎。

嘶。蛇。蛇的甦醒

Hush—do not speak yet.

Day and night are trading places, and dusk thickens in the sky. Between your breath and ours, countless cracks begin to breathe. The mountain mist grows denser. When you turn back, do not meet their eyes. At the edge of yin and yang, the heart drifts most easily. Under the blade, become soft. Loosen. There is no pain. Let it recede. Let me in. May I enter? Please, relax. The light is fading. Do not fear the dark. The blaze will arrive in a heartbeat. Do not fear the burning. Please, relax. There will be no pain. Rest easy. Memories ambush suddenly. Images like the wind. Can I forget? Must I still long for you? Loosen. The speed is like a wavering wind. Will it leave in haste? Can you forget? May I sleep now?

Hss— The serpent—awakens.

Photo by Axel Ling

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In the performance “PLEASE, BE SOFT, LET ME DIE,” the body is situated within a threshold between birth and death. The work begins at the moment when day transitions into night, as the fading light gradually immerses the space in uncertainty and quiet tension. A tire is placed flat on the ground covered with reflective silver paper. The performer slowly enters, carrying a black bag filled with transparent slime. As the slime is pressed inside the performer’s clothing and begins to shift and flow, the body becomes associated with the primordial moisture of life—recalling the fluid environment of the womb.

Within the work, the tire functions both as an industrial object and as a symbolic womb: a circular container of repetition, holding and releasing life. Sitting at the center of the tire with legs resting along its rim, the performer positions the body inside this metaphorical cavity.

Ephemeral flashes of burning magic paper briefly ignite and disappear, resembling the fleeting spark of existence. When a blade wrapped in flash paper is ignited, the fire reveals the knife itself, initiating a series of acts of cutting.

The knife and the sickle symbolize separation and termination. They slice open the bag containing slime, and later cut into another concealed bag hidden within the tire, releasing white lilies one by one. Lilies carry layered meanings—purity, mourning, and rebirth. As they emerge from within the tire, the act resembles both a birth and a funeral unfolding simultaneously.

Toward the end of the performance, the performer cuts open the clothing at the chest with a sickle, exposing the body. The headlamp is switched to a red light, bathing the space in a visceral glow reminiscent of blood or the interior of a womb. Finally, the performer blows bubbles into the air—fragile forms that appear momentarily before vanishing. Like the earlier flames, these bubbles embody the fleeting nature of existence.

The entire performance oscillates between softness and incision: the moisture of slime, the tenderness of lilies, and the fragility of bubbles stand in contrast to blades, fire, and acts of cutting. Ultimately, the work unfolds as a ritual of life’s cycle—birth, memory, separation, and disappearance—compressed into a single body and moment in time.