The film’s opening act was an impromptu performance. A random passerby climbed onto a highway sign structure and began performing Tai Chi. The passing traffic and drivers instantly became involuntary audiences of this sudden and inexplicable performance. The event naturally triggered the involvement of the police who tried to look for a reasonable explanation and solution. What the clip captures is the story of how a random passerby became the protagonist of a surreal happening. It is also, simultaneously, a performance art piece demonstrating how a random passerby can become the protagonist of a film. The sequence is followed by series of clips where a man personifies the essence of an audience and a woman the performer. Through a reimagining and re-conceptualizing of the performing and viewing process, the man-as-audience becomes wholly detached yet omnipresent, while the woman-as-performer becomes gradually non-existent under the spotlight.

MO Man-yu was born in 1960 in Hong Kong. He works predominantly in film and video but is also passionate about the performing arts, installation, photography and writing. Some of his signature themes include conceptualized bodily movements, surrealistic images, animation and time lapse. Mo graduated from the Design Department of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. A co-founder of Videotage, and a member of Modern Films Production and Zuni Icosahedron, Mo’s experimental short films have won prizes in the Hong Kong Independent Short Film Festival and the Bruxelles International Film Festival. He has also conducted a touring show of his works that were produced by Modern Films Production in Europe and America. Mo’s film projects have been commissioned by the Goethe Institute in collaboration with the Hong Kong Baptist University. He is also an Alumni of the Asian Cultural Council Fellowship grant for US cultural exchange activity. He was commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Festival for a video installation and performance piece, and was invited to participate in an artist-in-residency program curated by Yellow Springs Institute, Pennsylvannia, USA alongside Danny Yung from Zuni Icosahedron. Mo’s installation artworks have been exhibited at the Hong Kong Museum of Art and the Asian American Arts Center in New York. His graphic art, poetic writings and reviews on art events and movies have been published by various local newspapers and magazines. Mo currently lives in Holland where he is pursuing an advance meditation program.