Buffalo, NY
In their zeal to revolutionize everyday life, the Situationist International vowed to abolish boredom, lifeless architecture and work. There may be another way. Cheng Yang Lee makes videos of snow fluttering and escalators going up, of a cat lounging as relaxed as can be, of balloons caught in a tree, of a plastic deli bag blowing through an intersection. He takes hundreds of pictures from his apartment window, of the not-so-much that goes on out there, of the light glinting on the vertical blinds, of the streetlights glaring beautifully in the dark. He builds an altar to the stereotypical stuff of life in the United States of America: a bottle of coke, fries, a burger, an apple, a donut and coffee, roses and pennies, the welcome pamphlet he received when he emigrated here from Malaysia. He makes a calendar that marks the progress of daylight and an agenda that tracks moonlight; his partner uses them, but little happens. Bored? Boredom is on you. Anything can be interesting, even nothing much.
—Lori Waxman 11/11/16 4:01 PM