Tao Te King #art #tao #china #performance

An upbeat hip-hop/pop song begins playing.

"...slip you an Ambien. In New York"

A man wearing dark sunglasses is holding a small notebook open, rapidly flipping through its yellow pages in front of the camera. He then lowers the notebook. Behind him, a Canadian flag and a Swiss flag are hanging on the wall. He performs a sequence of hand gestures: he clasps his hands together, brings them up to his mouth/nose area, then points both index fingers directly forward at the camera. Following this, he raises his right hand, extending his index and middle fingers straight up while keeping the other fingers curled.

The music continues.

"Concrete jungle where dreams are made of"

He lowers his right hand and uses it to briefly take off his sunglasses, looks directly at the camera, and then puts them back on. He picks up a small, red, rectangular object and holds it up briefly. He then holds up the black notebook again, showing a yellow sticky note attached to its cover, and removes his sunglasses once more. No specific sign language is observed in this segment; the movements consist of manipulating objects and his glasses.

The music continues.

"There's nothing you can't do, now you're in New York"

He places his sunglasses back on his face. He repeats a portion of the earlier gesture, clasping his hands and bringing them to his face. He then lowers his hands and stares into the camera. He repeats the gesture of clasping his hands together and bringing them up to his face.

The music continues.

"These streets will make you feel brand new"

He picks up the notebook again, this time flipping through pages that appear white. He repeats the hand-clasping gesture. He then takes off his sunglasses, looks at the camera, puts them back on, and briefly holds up a plain white piece of paper. He again repeats the gesture of clasping his hands together and bringing them to his face.

The music continues.

"Big lights will inspire you, let's hear it for New York"

He holds up the black notebook, showing a yellow sticky note that has a small lightning bolt symbol drawn on it. He then flips the notebook over to show the back cover, which features a printed QR code, and brings it close to the camera lens. The video then abruptly cuts to a screen recording of an iPhone.

The music continues, fading out slightly towards the end of the clip.

"New York, New York, New York"

The video displays a screen recording of an iPhone's share sheet, showing various contacts and app sharing options (AirDrop, Messages, Mail, Instagram). The view briefly cuts back to the man holding the notebook, and then cuts to an iPhone lock screen. The lock screen displays several notifications in French, with the date reading "Vendredi 3 octobre" and the time at "00:19".