O-1 Visas
Most nights I slumber eight hours in a queen-size bed, buried under a soft duvet, with my husband beside me and our children nearby, dreaming as we lie safe and secure at home. Yalin Zhao, a Chicago-based artist originally from Chengdu, China, does not sleep this well, nor do so many others on this anxious, ambitious, war-ridden planet. Zhao’s “Sleep Sound,” a motorized bed programmed to roam around galleries, epitomizes this contemporary condition. Her sculpture, built of metal frames on wheels mounted by a mattress and bedding, integrates electronics that cause it to move smoothly then abruptly around whatever space it temporarily occupies. Sometimes the bed is empty, as in the 21st Century Wanderer exhibition at Chicago Art Department; at other times it is occupied by the artist, who dozes through live events, as she did during the PA2025 festival in Wellington, NZ. Brightly lit and open to the public, neither of these places is any good for resting, nor, really, is the bed, with its herky-jerky motions and unnerving noises. But at a time when millions of people have few choices but to keep moving, a quiet, stable bed may not be in the offing. Is Zhao’s adaptability admirable or pitiable? Perhaps both.
—Lori Waxman 2025-04-28 3:44 PM