# How Works Happen: Theatre, Assessment and Agreements for Working Together Eight encounters with P4 and US-period materials: who acts, how media take part, and how an action becomes a work. ## Begin with a scene In these materials, P4 is both a theatre space for working together and a platform offering space, documentation, organisation and planning. The public Personal Chronicle proposal brings watching, performing and filming together. To understand this practice, we need to see how people use a space, initiate actions and leave records, rather than simply list productions. The lights go down, but singing comes from outside the stage. A performer in white descends from the upper floor; only later does the audience see a second performer, dressed in black, behind the gauze. Projections, bodies, written words, music and broadcasts keep redirecting attention. This opening is described in a retained Shadow Counterpoint press text. That account also records a difficulty: some spectators felt that the juxtaposition divided their attention and that the words did not clarify the story. [Read about P4’s practice](/en/work/p4-theatre#chapter-3) — Start with space and shared practice, then compare the three questions below. [S03](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S03) [S12](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S12) ## Three questions to carry through the materials How do existing images, texts and bodily experience become actions that several people can carry out together? Who decides what an action means: makers, participants, a machine or assessors? When does an action begin and end, and how does its record let others enter it? These questions take concrete form in gauze and projections, translation interfaces, assessment documents, paper scripts and public project agreements. They are ways to compare particular materials, rather than a single theme imposed on every work. [Follow media into an event](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/shadow) — Follow an opening, contributions, viewing difficulties and replay through one case. [S03](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S03) [S04](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S04) [S05](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S05) [S10](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S10) [S12](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S12) ## Four windows in time The first concerns early theatre collaboration. The 2016 Shadow Counterpoint texts describe a practical spatial problem: how existing images and music coexist with performance, and how spectators divide their attention. Two press texts credit He Fa and Aoshuang with planning and Yan Qin with direction. Preservation in He Fa’s archive does not make every contribution his. The second concerns documented US-period work. A Fa’s review work list dated 28 April 2017 identifies the assessment itself as documentary work. Some Fafalish Library photographs carry a device date of 24 October 2017 and show paper, letterforms, computer operations and onlookers. They can be compared through questions of judgement and reading, but the materials do not establish that the assessment caused the later experiments. The third concerns shared exercises around 2021–2022. Lisa workshop photographs show both two people standing face to face and exchanges around paper and materials. In Feedback, reading and physical actions alternate; in Outward Monologue, thread and a curtain alter what can be seen between bodies. Camera dates support the workshop records; directory labels supply the other two dates. These are different kinds of evidence, not a precise chronology. The fourth is a public organisational proposal from 2023. The Personal Chronicle recruitment text connects an interview, project initiation, process documentation and a public presentation. Publication establishes that the procedure was proposed, not that every project completed it. The US period is a parallel strand in He Fa’s practice, not an American phase of P4 as a whole. These windows organise a reading, not a complete institutional history. [See assessment enter a work](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/review) — From a work list to camera positions, without treating the US period as a phase of P4. [S01](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S01) [S02](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S02) [S03](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S03) [S04](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S04) [S07](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S07) [S08](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S08) [S09](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S09) [S10](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S10) [S12](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S12) ## Places do not form a single ladder of progress These windows do not mean that He Fa first resolved images, then moved to bodies and finally to organisation. Images were already part of theatre, and US-period proposals also addressed shared work. Long Long Ago Group proposed that participants take turns hosting activities in their own regions while continuing to attend one another’s activities, and jointly seek alternatives when a venue was unsuitable. The surviving proposal establishes an intention, not its implementation. Like Personal Chronicle it treats organisation as a condition of making; a direct line of inheritance remains unproven. [Read the rotating-host proposal](/en/work/long-long-ago#chapter-1) — Compare rotating hosts with one initiator; neither proposal establishes delivery. [S13](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S13) [S12](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S12) ## Eight encounters, organised by questions Begin with the Shadow Counterpoint reports to understand the practical difficulty of coordinating media. Then read the Fa’s review assessment and work list to see how an evaluation becomes part of a work. Fafalish Library photographs bring paper, screens and onlookers around the same table; the Lisa workshop moves between facing another person and gathering around materials. Outward Monologue and Feedback show different bodily processes: thread and concealment in one, paper and repeated movements in the other. Out of Everyday Life places paper within a seated exchange, though its contents and any decisions remain unknown. Finally, the publication of Personal Chronicle sets out proposed beginnings and endings for projects. The first seven encounters have varying degrees of visual or documentary support; the eighth is first of all the publication of a proposal, not proof of subsequent delivery. [Read how shared work is organised](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/working-together) — Compare visible actions with proposed agreements, without claiming implementation. [S01](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S01) [S04](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S04) [S07](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S07) [S08](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S08) [S09](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S09) [S10](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S10) [S11](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S11) [S12](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S12) ## He Fa does not occupy the same role throughout The Shadow Counterpoint press texts support a planning credit; a collaborator’s retrospective account places He Fa and Aoshuang’s contribution in costume, visual design and lighting. The Fa’s review work list is signed Fa He. In workshop and 510 materials, however, preserving, organising, filming, performing and authoring are not interchangeable. This research has not established He Fa’s role in every recording. Accurate credits make collaboration visible rather than reducing everyone else to the background of one artist’s career. [Check the documented contributions](/en/work/shadow-counterpoint#documented-collaborative-roles) — Distinguish planning, direction and dance credits, retaining the two Chinese name spellings. [S01](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S01) [S02](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S02) [S03](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S03) [S04](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/sources#S04) ## Choose the next question Read Shadow Counterpoint to follow different artistic materials into one presentation. Read Fa’s review to see the act of judging enter a work. Read From Rehearsal Actions to Project Agreements to compare visible exercises with publicly proposed procedures. The lower-level index remains available for finding records, versions and unresolved leads; it does not have to tell the whole history. [Follow media into an event](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/shadow) — Follow an opening, contributions, viewing difficulties and replay through one case. [See assessment enter a work](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/review) — From a work list to camera positions, without treating the US period as a phase of P4. [Read how shared work is organised](/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/working-together) — Compare visible actions with proposed agreements, without claiming implementation. --- The 73-record research index follows. # P4 and the US Period: Work and Process Leads 73 candidate records are organised by project and process: 55 associated with P4 and 18 with the US period. There are 64 interim summaries, eight unresolved-attribution records and one media gap. These are archival records, not 73 confirmed artworks, and do not represent complete viewing of all footage. Archival research and editorial compilation · 2 October 2026. Analysis and English translations were prepared with AI assistance in the site’s editorial process, not as a first-person artist statement. Titles without a documented English title use editorial translations. Most source footage remains in the local archive. This page adds no playable videos or images. Linked work pages retain their existing public content; an archival association does not create an author, director or performance credit. ## Iceberg Interim summary Documents and image excerpts have been organised as an entry point for further study of the work’s process. The moving images have not received continuous audiovisual review. [Iceberg](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg) ## BODY / 101 Theatre Group Interim summary Texts and graphic materials can be compared with some event images. This remains an entry for a group and its projects; individual events and roles require separate verification. ## Kiss You, Kill Me Interim summary Texts, scripts and event excerpts provide materials for comparison. Different titles and dates remain separate; similar records are not merged into a single performance. ## P4 Screenings Interim summary Working discussions, proposals and published texts preserve the development of ideas for screenings. The discussion record is incomplete, and proposals do not establish that activities took place. [P4 Screenings: Reflections Between Us](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/p4-screenings) ## PIXEL ECHO XIII Interim summary Performance documents have been catalogued. This remains a documentary lead; specific event details require verification against their sources. ## World Question Center / Tianmuli Interim summary Articles and illustrated activity records preserve project ideas and collaborative leads. Accompanying footage alone does not establish that the announced group performance took place. [World Question Center: Hangzhou Residency and A Common Festival](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/wqc-hangzhou-residency) ## Human Surrender Interim summary The archive includes project texts and moving-image research. Machine transcripts are search aids; material not checked against the original audio is not evidence of a person’s views or of event causation. [Human Surrender / Shoot Self with You](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/human-surrender) ## Hamlet’s Mirror Interim summary This entry connects to existing work research. Work records and individual presentations remain to be compared, without conflating different displays into one event. [Hamlet’s Mirror](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hamlets-mirror) ## Four Eyes Interim summary An article and several event files offer different views of a creative process. Text and visible action are compared provisionally; the sound and full event have not been reconstructed. ## The Rooftop Howler Interim summary This entry gathers leads on rehearsals and events related to The Rooftop Howler. Training, fictional events and actual participation are treated separately. [The Rooftop Howler](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/rooftop-howler) ## Happiness Kingdom Interim summary World-building, game rules, announcements and event excerpts are catalogued separately. Rules describe a design; actual participation and roles must be checked event by event. [Happiness Kingdom](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/happiness-kingdom) ## Romance Theatre Interim summary Existing articles are the main documentary basis. Characters in the film being screened are distinguished from participants at the event. [Romance Theatre](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/romance-theatre) ## The Final Solution Interim summary Articles and recruitment texts record a trial-run proposal and its procedures. The footage has not been fully matched to individual event dates. [Final Solution](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/final-solution) ## Vortex Interim summary An advance article and excerpts showing people seated with papers offer rehearsal leads. The announced public performance still requires evidence from after the event. [Vortex](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/vortex) ## Encounter / Wormhole Theatre Interim summary Reading, casting calls and a creator’s account propose combining music and improvisation. A separate book-donation initiative is catalogued independently, not as a performance of this work. ## Purples: collected materials Interim summary Proposals and articles preserve project ideas and differences between versions. Entries rely on legible source texts; damaged encoding is not used to establish facts. [Purples / Purple Action](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/purple-action) ## Paper Screening Interim summary Discussions, proposals and published texts allow comparison of revisions to Paper Screening. Working discussions and evidence of implementation remain separate. [Paper Screening](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/paper-screening) ## Cocoon Interim summary Project texts, graphic materials and some visual observations have been organised. Activities continue to be checked against individual sources and events. [Cocoon](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/cocoon) ## Let Time Pass Interim summary The call proposes an initial rehearsal and a restaging, with later performance opportunities conditional on a competition result. Excerpts support rehearsal leads, not selection or a completed public performance. ## 3P / Breakup: production-file group Interim summary Media specifications in production files can be compared with related material, and some connections appear strong. Image-source identity remains unverified; file groups are not counted as separate works. ## P4U: collected materials Interim summary Credit statements, proposals and related texts record ideas for organising projects. Public proposals and later implementation are checked separately. ## Playback Theatre Interim summary Event photographs show stage actions and collective participation. Specific exercises and feedback require further documentary support. ## Entering Dreams Workshop Interim summary Two groups of clips show paired footwork, small groups standing together and interactions in a line. Body and spatial arrangements can be described, while exercise rules and instructions remain unverified. 21 March / 27 March — Directory labels; year and individual sessions remain unverified. ## Park Forum Theatre Interim summary Event photographs have been organised as activity leads. Individual sessions, facilitation and participation remain to be checked. ## Duel Club Interim summary This entry connects existing project readings and event materials. Rules, implementation and later accounts are kept distinct rather than using one excerpt to represent the whole process. [Saturday Four-Hour Duel Club](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/duel-club) ## Shixiang Interim summary Procedural texts and personal accounts provide two different kinds of source. Rules, individual experience and long-term plans are kept separate; a plan is not a completion record. [Shixiang](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/shixiang) ## Little Red Deer Interim summary Method notes, recruitment and schedules preserve versions with different dates. Training plans still need to be matched with records of implementation. ## Shadow Counterpoint Interim summary Retained press manuscripts record different descriptions of the performance. The texts checked here credit He Fa and Aoshuang with planning, Yan Qin with direction, and Liu Yang as a dancer. The Chinese name variants 刘杨 and 刘洋 remain unresolved; manuscript wording does not establish a single final credit list. [Shadow Counterpoint](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/shadow-counterpoint) ## Riding the Wind Interim summary A creator’s account and an edited text offer written leads on the project’s formation. Textual versions and public plans are retained; later outcomes still require verification. [Becoming Wind, Breaking Waves](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/becoming-wind) ## Centrists / Accusing Love Interim summary An advance list names He Fa as a performer and event documentarian. It describes planned roles; actual performance must be checked against event records. [A Centrist’s Self-Rescue Guide After the Failure of Love](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/centrists-self-rescue) ## Colosseum Workshop Interim summary A workshop template proposes procedures involving self-justification, judgement and debate. It is a design document, not yet matched step by step to the activities in event photographs. ## Kill Mother Interim summary This entry gathers existing project interpretation and moving-image sources. Subtitles must be matched to footage and checked against sound before supporting specific event accounts. ## Porphyria Interim summary An interim project reading distinguishes the evidential status of work texts and event records. Further process research still requires reliable original audio. ## The Glass Menagerie Interim summary This entry connects discussions of the work and rehearsal leads. Unverified machine subtitles are not treated as settled views, decisions or evidence of later implementation. ## Meat Grinder Interim summary The call invites both actors and observers. Announcements and some event images provide a starting point for process research; specific interactions still require audio verification. ## A Fatal Joke Interim summary Announcement versions differ in venue and time. Their original context and rhetoric are retained; fictional events are not treated as real production history. ## Hallucination Interim summary The script is credited to Buzhe, and the surviving document versions can be matched. This is a related creative and documentary entry, not a work attributed solely to He Fa. [Hallucination](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hallucination) ## 510 Event Record (working title) Interim summary Excerpts show several people seated among objects and props. The activity’s formal title and specific topics still require documentary confirmation. ## An Extroverted Monologue Interim summary Discrete images show relationships between thin lines, hands, mouths and curtains. Viewing position changes what is visible. This is a visual reading; rules and participants’ feelings remain unverified. 2022-08-04 — Directory label, not an independently confirmed event date. ## Tying People (unresolved materials) Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa. ## Artists Are All Rubbish: meeting materials Interim summary A screen recording alternates between shared pages, a project poster and remote-video windows. Only the presentation format is established here; unchecked discussion content is not reconstructed. ## Beyond the Everyday Interim summary Participants sit together, with paper and pens involved in their exchange. Some images show pointing to paper and holding a pen. The writing and discussion outcomes are unconfirmed. ## Rediscovering the Compass: screening materials Interim summary Excerpts record a film screened in a dark room. People and dialogue within the film cannot be used directly to reconstruct the post-screening discussion. ## Second-hand Trading Event Interim summary Displaying, inspecting, handling and moving objects form the visible process. Existing samples do not establish particular exchanges or completed sales. ## North Wind Theatre / Eurydice Project: workshop materials Interim summary Images show seated participants, balloons and other objects. They offer spatial and material clues; workshop rules and discussion remain unverified. ## KISS ME, KILL ME: event materials Interim summary A single person, a chair and bodily actions dominate the available excerpts. They are provisionally associated with similarly titled material, without merging different dates or standardising titles. ## Feedback: rehearsal materials Interim summary Reading from paper alternates with bodily action: kneeling with raised arms, reaching and bending forward, and lifting the head while supported on the ground recur locally. These images extend the rehearsal record beyond reading; instructions and purposes remain unverified. 2022-09-11 — Directory label, not an independently confirmed event date. ## Guattari and Psychoanalysis: seminar materials Interim summary Images record participants holding papers and the surrounding space. The discussion has not been checked against the original sound; this remains an entry to seminar materials. ## Lisa Workshop Interim summary Photographs show sitting together, drawing and exchange. Records with different dates remain separate rather than being merged into a single session. ## P4 Chatroom Interim summary An opening sequence uses back-to-back figures, spatial transitions and titles to construct a visual identity. It is a produced title sequence, not the equivalent of an actual conversation. ## Sangou / Sangou Theatre Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa. ## Buzhe Workshop Interim summary Photographs preserve collective interaction around a small table. Exercise tasks and outcomes still need written or original-audio evidence. ## Personal Chronicle PHA Interim summary The public call proposes beginning with interviews, documenting the developing project, and marking the end of a phase with a public performance. These are methods and commitments; their implementation requires evidence for each stage. 2023-03; 2024-01 — Publication and republication of a call, not multiple completed events. [Personal Chronicle / PHA](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/personal-chronicle) ## Animal Farm Interim summary An article uses theatre space and everyday life as its narrative setting and announces a performance. Its rhetoric and character descriptions are not direct event facts; actual presentation remains unverified. ## How to Eat a Banana? Interim summary The announcement names He Fa as initiator and proposes a shared activity at P4. It remains an activity plan here; process records are insufficient to establish its implementation. 2021-03-28 18:00–20:00 — Planned time in an announcement, not proof of implementation. [How to Eat a Banana?](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/eat-a-banana) ## Art Country Test Material A (unresolved) Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa. ## Editing Project: Missing Media Media gap The editing project lacks linked media, so its content cannot yet be restored or its attribution confirmed. ## ASS WE CAN manuscript Interim summary The manuscript proposes organising participation through arm-wrestling rules. Its relationship to a similarly titled CV entry and its implementation remain unconfirmed. Authorship, component credits, or individual versus group attribution remain to be checked. An interim summary does not confirm attribution. ## Fafalish Library Interim summary A sequence of photographs shows wall-based letterforms, computer operation and onlookers. Camera time and the CV account are retained separately; they do not establish the complete event date. [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ## Fafalish graphics / project files Interim summary Graphics and recordings of translation-interface operations show letterforms, framing and machine recognition changing in relation to one another. Some components and source creators remain unverified; reference films in the folder are not counted as works by He Fa. Authorship, component credits, or individual versus group attribution remain to be checked. An interim summary does not confirm attribution. [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ## Farocki research manuscript Interim summary A research or compilation manuscript signed FA HE addresses production, montage and multiple screens. Quotations and the writer’s own discussion remain distinct; the whole text is not treated as original writing. ## Fa’s review Interim summary A work list signed Fa He organises the review and related files as a documentary work. Multiple camera positions provide complementary views. Listed and source-file durations remain separate, and synchronisation has not been mapped. 2017-04-28 — Date on the work list; source container dates correspond, but devices were not synchronised. [Fa’s review](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fas-review) ## Mao and Cao Interim summary A poster, instructions, website screenshots and video leads form the project record. Differences between months recorded in the materials remain unresolved rather than being collapsed into one date. ## PlaySpace installation record Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa. ## i love: letterform translation Interim summary Graphic experiments overlap with a translation interface. One recording passes through filming a screen into paper-and-pen activity; another shows the division of the word LOVE. Formal titles, sequence and relationships to final versions remain unresolved. ## Art Country Test Material B (unresolved) Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa. ## Flag: exported sequence Interim summary Video samples show intact horizontal colour bands, while exported images also show displacement and fragmentation. Low-resolution frame-by-frame measurements support a largely unchanged video composition; the relationship between the two kinds of material remains unverified. ## Art Country moving images Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa. ## Artist Identity and AI statement Interim summary The statement explores artistic identity and AI, but its author and date have not been independently confirmed. It remains research material, not a confirmed original work by He Fa. Authorship, component credits, or individual versus group attribution remain to be checked. An interim summary does not confirm attribution. ## Long Long Ago proposal Interim summary The Long Long Ago Group proposal envisages rotating curatorship across regions, domestic spaces and public settings. Identical backups are not independent evidence of activities; implementation remains unconfirmed. Authorship, component credits, or individual versus group attribution remain to be checked. An interim summary does not confirm attribution. 2017–2019 — Proposed call and implementation period; actual implementation is unproven. [Long Long Ago / Project Proposal](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/long-long-ago) ## YourTube Interim summary This entry connects existing research on YourTube and its installation records. The source manuscript was not reread in this batch; previously verified information remains on the work page. [YourTube](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/yourtube) ## Anonymous Exhibition photographs Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa. ## Art Country image project Attribution unresolved Related materials have been located, but the identity of the work, its author or its connection to a specific event remains unverified. This is not listed as a confirmed work by He Fa.