SUN YUAN and PENG YU, Old Peoples Home (2007) -

"Old People’s Home", an installation by artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, features 13 life-sized, hyperrealistic figures of elderly individuals in motorized wheelchairs, resembling familiar world leaders: politicians, generals, bishops, and dictators. Sagging in their chairs, these relics of authority slowly move around without purpose, either catatonic or asleep, colliding with each other like bumper cars. Through this grotesque parody, the artists critique a global power structure dominated by a small group of elderly, white, male leaders, endlessly engaged in a nonsensical cycle of conflict. The work rise question about a society held back by outdated systems and traditions, where those in charge are no longer capable of moving us forward, stuck in the inertia of absurd logics instead of evolving and progressing.

The Chinese artist duo is well known for their controversial and provocative works, such as "If seeing is not an option" (2013), "Can’t Help Myself (2016) -presented at the Venice Biennale in 2019 - and the highly criticised "Dogs That Cannot Touch Each Other" (2003) , that was censored by the Guggenheim Museum in 2017.

Artworks details:
Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Old People’s Home, 2007, 13 life size sculpture and 13 dynamoelectric wheel chairs, variable dimensions
© Sun Yuan and Peng Yu
Music © The Caretaker - Libet's Delay