The performance was based on “Forgotten Home,” a poem by Paul Celan:
Der Sand aus den Urnen
Green as mould is the forgotten home
In front of every blowing door your beheaded musician turns blue
For you, he hits drums made of moss and rough pubic hair.
Draw your eyebrows in the sand with a purulent toe
He paints longer than it is, and your lips are red.
Here you fill up the urn and feed your atrium.
Li Xinmo came to this bustling commercial city center from the mountains with moss, green, and a huge, heavy drop of water. The world begins with a drop of water; it is the origin of all life, the womb, the archetype of tears, and the ticking of the clock of time on earth. The background music was a slow but steady tolling bell, a disturbing chime. There was a change in the performance when she took the heavy water drop (balloon) and arranged lichen moss, one of the oldest plants existing before animals and humans. She lay on the moss and covered her mouth with this ancient green life. The water contained in the drop balloon eventually slipped. The green liquid, the blood of the plant, spilled over her body. Eventually, a potted plant grew out of her belly, as if emerging from the earth. At this point, the rolling thunder that began in the middle of the performance turned into light rain. Just as the performance ended, the clouds burst into heavy rain.
