《國際歌》第三段鮮為人知，歌詞涉及至今尚未解決的貧富差距和賦稅問題。 因其無政府主義傾向，而不曾在全世界任一國家的遊行中傳唱（普遍傳唱的是第一，二、六段），但這段歌詞恰恰最具現實意義。 姚清妹在一輛配備了高音喇叭和車內擴音設備的汽車，繞摩納哥F1賽道兩圈重複唱出《國際歌》第三章節，最後將汽車停在摩納哥大賭場廣場，30秒不到的 時間就遭遇了警察上前盤問。

姚清妹這場「一個人的遊行」既是政治性的觀點表達，也是極賦詩意的行動表演。 作為一個對公共空間的介入（intervention）和類似偶發事件（happening）的行為，意圖揭示歌詞內容與權貴「避稅天堂」的摩納哥——這個地點空間之間的強大衝突和不可妥協性。 藝術家的舉動很快就被兩名警察攔下，在此期間的對話被錄音記錄。 在談話中，警察和藝術家用各自的語言體系進行武裝，在藝術與政治的邊緣周旋，“討論”藝術和所謂“藝術的政治性”，以及公共空間的言論限制等問題。 而藝術與政治之間的縫隙恰恰成為了藝術家的庇佑。 這個行為影片最後以對話錄音的形式呈現。

Yao Qingmei (b.1982, Zhejiang) currently lives and works in Wenzhou and Paris. She achieved DNSEP with honors from Villa Arson, Nice, France in 2013, and was awarded the winner of Prix spécial du jury at the 59th Salon de Montrouge in 2014, the Prize “Young Chinese Artist of the Year” in 2017 and the 68th Prix Jeune Création of Paris in 2018.

Yao Qingmei’s practice traverses the boundary between performance and its site, frequently enacting intervention in public space to perturb the parameters of its reality and surroundings. Her art is deep-rooted in a critical reflection into the formulation of political and social questions, exploring how symbolic gestures gain or lose power through forms of appropriation and displacement. Here, humor plays an important role in her work, using the poetics of comedy to expose the absurdity of a particular issue. Offering different methods of resistance, her theatrical performances and interventions find their form in an area overlapping burlesque traditions of satire and parody, which combine with framing devices influenced by theatre sets and costume, pedagogical lectures, the dialectic between image and text, choreography inspired by modern dance.

Major solo exhibitions include: The Tetrachromatic Dream of the Dichromats, Paris, FR (2018); The Ecdysiast, Magician Space, Beijing, CN (2017); Professor Yao, OCAT Xi’an, Shaanxi, CN (2016); Recrute Mendicant/ SDF pour une foire d’art contemporain, Marseilles, FR (2015); One Hour Occupy Parking Lot, Paradise, Nante, FR (2015); Professor Yao, Magician Space, Beijing, CN (2015); Vernissage Nouvelles Expos, Palais de Tokyo, Paris, FR (2014).

Major group exhibitions, screenings and performances include: Artists’ Film International, Whitechapel Gallery, London, GB (2020); Factories, Machines and the Poet’s Words: Echoes of the Realities in Art, 798 Art Zone Buildings, Beijing, CN (2019); Bicycle Thieves, Para Site, Hong Kong, CN (2019); The Racing Will Continue, The Dancing Will Stay, Guangdong Times Museum, Guangdong, CN (2019); China Land Scape: Selections from the Taikang Collection 2019, Beijing, CN (2019); One Rehearsal (Performance), CACHE, Beijing, CN (2018); New Metallurgists, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, DE (2018); Respire-Works from the Lemaitre Video Art Collection, Herzliya Museum of Conyemporary Art, Herzliya, IL (2018); Brace for Impact, De Appel Curatorial Programme, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL (2018); NOW: A Dialogue on Female Chinese Contemporary Artists, Co-organised by CAFA Art Museum, Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, and Tate Research Centre: Asia, UK (2018); The New Normal: Art and China in 2017, UCCA, Beijing, CN (2017); Yes I can! Un Portrait du Pouvoir, Centre d’art Contemporain Walter Benjamin, Perpignan, FR (2016); JCE Biennale 2015-2017, Kunstbygningen Museum, Vra, Denmark (2016); Le Commerce de la Parole, Museum Rochechouart, Rochechouart, FR (2014); La Comedie de l’Art, Fondation de Doute, Ville de Blois, FR (2014); 59e Salon de Montrouge, Ville de Montrouge, Montrouge, FR (2014).