Pressing, Pressing 

2025

Performance, video, plastic clocks, linen cloth

The repetition of the performer’s pressing actions on alarm clocks—lined up like an army around the performer’s body—represents the overwhelming reliance on, and resultant control by, time, deadlines, and hyperconnectivity in modern work culture. Drawing on popular discourse about overworking, including karoshi in Japan and gē jiǔcài or rén kuàng in mainland China, Yeung highlights how the potential for physical death from pointless overwork may be closer than we think. During the performance, as stagehands manoeuvre the performer, a distinctive funeral music from South China (specifically Chiuchow, also known as Teochew) is played, referring to the artist’s familial roots in that region.