# Fafalish Canonical: https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish Fafalish, 2017. Language, video, printed text. He Fa’s role: Artist and exhibition curator. 2017 / Language, video, printed text A sentence passes through translation, accent and transcription, becoming a situation between languages. Fafalish, CCA Simpson Library, San Francisco, 2017. Image: CCA/C Archives, CC BY-NC 4.0; compressed for the web. HE FA’S ROLE Artist and exhibition curator ## Work record Fafalish, 2017. Language, video, printed text. He Fa’s role: Artist and exhibition curator. Work / series Fafalish Date 2017 Medium Language, video, printed text He Fa’s role Artist and exhibition curator Catalogue section Selected works Cite this record: Fafalish · 2017 · Artist and exhibition curator · [https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) [CCA VAULT: exhibition record, photographs and curatorial statement](https://vault.cca.edu/items/73ff48ab-ea24-48ed-9004-5d4a05739235/1/) WORK WORLD / OPEN FROM HERE If language cannot return intact, can communication still happen? LANGUAGE AS MATERIAL ## Translation does not return meaning intact. Fafalish was exhibited at CCA’s Simpson Library in San Francisco, October 2–December 15, 2017. It combined the video Kunlun (Brother Order) with printed text extending along walls and a column. The process begins with Mao Zedong’s poem Kunlun : Chinese is translated word by word into English, spoken with a Chinese accent, heard as pinyin, transcribed into Chinese characters and translated into English by machine. Reading the installation today, these shifts suggest that an utterance is shaped by every person and tool it passes through. The wall lets a visitor compare traces; the listening station asks for time. Accent and mishearing become material that can be examined, rather than simply errors to be removed. SIX TRANSFORMATIONS / AFTER THE EXHIBITION ACCOUNT 01 Chinese poem ### Chinese poem 02 Word-by-word English ### Word-by-word English 03 Accented speech ### Accented speech 04 Heard as pinyin ### Heard as pinyin 05 Chinese characters ### Chinese characters 06 Machine English ### Machine English Listening and reading meet at one station. Successive transformations unfold on paper. Exhibition photographs: CCA/C Archives, [CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) . Resized and compressed for the web. ## From language shifts to the space between screens. Seen alongside YourTube (2018), Fafalish opens a question that later takes another material form: what has happened to the content before it reaches us? Fafalish exposes accent, transcription and translation. YourTube places images and comments within a space where people sit together. Both reward beginning with the installation and returning to the text. [CCA VAULT: exhibition record, photographs and curatorial statement ↗](https://vault.cca.edu/items/73ff48ab-ea24-48ed-9004-5d4a05739235/1/) The process account follows the exhibition record. The comparative reading on this page was written in 2026. ## Between wall, column and listening station The portfolio separately documents the listening station, long wall and column. Printed language takes on different spatial scales: visitors can pause at a tablet, follow sheets above the workstations or read at a column between bookshelves. A text frame from Kunlun on p. 33 places different languages and phonetic transcriptions alongside one another. ## Translation takes place in front of the camera Two vertical test recordings bring typography, images and a phone’s live translation interface into one chain of observation. “FUCK IS .mov” records separated English letters and changing translation results; “白眼1.mov” repeatedly frames a red image combining Chinese characters and a face. They show an ongoing adjustment among letterforms, image placement and recognition results. The 27-minute, 16.8-second recording “MAH02831.MP4” moves from a group gathering and talking to operations among paper, phone and computer display. The original photograph “DSC02869.JPG” records this process at close range: handwritten and printed forms cover the table, the phone interface appears on a monitor, and participants converse in the same space as the screen. Source documents: FUCK IS .mov; 白眼1.mov; MAH02831.MP4; DSC02869.JPG. Fafalish column installation, CCA Simpson Library, 2017. Artist’s portfolio, p. 27. Image: CCA/C Archives, CC BY-NC 4.0. Text frame associated with Kunlun (Brother Order). Artist’s portfolio, p. 33; the source juxtaposes different languages and phonetic transcriptions. Phone translation test from the Fafalish working archive, “FUCK IS .mov”, frame at 00:41.453. “MAH02831.MP4”, frame at 15:00.240; paper, phone and laptop form a working arrangement at the event. Original Fafalish event photograph “DSC02869.JPG”; the complete composition is retained. CLOSE READING / 2026 CURATORIAL INTERPRETATION ## Fafalish If language cannot return intact, can communication still happen? ### Begin with what happens in the work Exhibited at CCA’s Simpson Library from 2 October to 15 December 2017, including Kunlun (Brother Order) and installed paper texts. The poem passes through literal English translation, accented reading, phonetic transcription, rewriting in Chinese characters and machine translation. A deviation in one conversion becomes the material available to the next. Sound does not simply obey its source text, and written characters cannot guarantee a return to the original. Error is not a residue removed by final proofreading; it is an action that moves the work forward. Accent, guesswork, hearing and software rewrite meaning together. Looking only for what the final sentence means misses the way meaning acquires a body during its passage. The library is not a neutral backdrop. Sheets along walls and a column turn a space associated with quiet, accurate reading into a site of successive transformations. The listening station moves visitors between written forms and sounds. The work does not prove that misunderstanding always liberates. More specifically, it disperses the authority to recognize, transcribe and correct a sentence beyond one standard language. Changing media becomes a way of changing the conditions of speech. ### The limits of this reading Machine mistranslation is not evidence of machine intention, and linguistic error does not establish a maker’s or viewer’s identity. Based on the CCA VAULT exhibition description, public work page and installation archive. Private recollections are not included. [Work archive and source documents](#work-record) TAKE A PATH ACROSS ## Other paths from this work. Language in transit Reading after something is divided [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [Fragments](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/duanzhang) Fragments retains breaks between image strips, while Fafalish juxtaposes successive transcriptions. Both make seams readable: one rearranges visual positions, the other changes correspondences between sound and written meaning. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2012 / Photography, light box Read the source materials Work image [Images and presentation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/duanzhang#chapter-1) The complete horizontal image consists of dense horizontal strips, with divisions and seams remaining visible. Period document [Chinese poem ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-3) The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=duanzhang) Language in transit ### Reading after something is divided [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [Fragments](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/duanzhang) Fragments retains breaks between image strips, while Fafalish juxtaposes successive transcriptions. Both make seams readable: one rearranges visual positions, the other changes correspondences between sound and written meaning. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2012 / Photography, light box Work image [Images and presentation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/duanzhang#chapter-1) The complete horizontal image consists of dense horizontal strips, with divisions and seams remaining visible. The complete horizontal image consists of dense horizontal strips, with divisions and seams remaining visible. Period document [Chinese poem ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-3) The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. Language in transit Materials shape how attention stays [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [Lose losing](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/lose-losing) Lose losing specifies any projection-suitable material; Fafalish combines paper texts with listening apparatus. Surfaces participate in expression in both, but the former’s still records cannot establish its projection rhythm. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2014 / Any surface suitable for projection Read the source materials Period document [From photographs to a projectable image ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/lose-losing#chapter-1) The portfolio medium entry specifies any projectable material, with dimensions determined by the venue; the record supplies no screening duration. Period document [Translation does not return meaning intact. ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-2) The CCA exhibition statement documents printed texts, the Kunlun video and listening/reading devices exhibited together. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=lose-losing) Language in transit ### Materials shape how attention stays [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [Lose losing](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/lose-losing) Lose losing specifies any projection-suitable material; Fafalish combines paper texts with listening apparatus. Surfaces participate in expression in both, but the former’s still records cannot establish its projection rhythm. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2014 / Any surface suitable for projection Period document [From photographs to a projectable image ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/lose-losing#chapter-1) The portfolio medium entry specifies any projectable material, with dimensions determined by the venue; the record supplies no screening duration. The portfolio medium entry specifies any projectable material, with dimensions determined by the venue; the record supplies no screening duration. Period document [Translation does not return meaning intact. ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-2) The CCA exhibition statement documents printed texts, the Kunlun video and listening/reading devices exhibited together. The CCA exhibition statement documents printed texts, the Kunlun video and listening/reading devices exhibited together. Language in transit How a sentence changes a position [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [A Centrist’s Self-Rescue Guide After the Failure of Love](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/centrists-self-rescue) He Fa’s Who Are the Centrists? uses repetition and wordplay to unsettle a position; Fafalish changes sentences through transcription and translation. Both intervene in meaning, but writing and conversion do not constitute the same mechanism of error. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2021 / P4U immersive theatre; associated writing Read the source materials Period document [The production and He Fa’s writing ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/centrists-self-rescue#chapter-1) The project text and He Fa’s Who Is a Centrist? of 23 April 2021 ground audience choices, character speech and repetitive language; production credits remain distinct. Period document [Chinese poem ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-3) The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=centrists-self-rescue) Language in transit ### How a sentence changes a position [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [A Centrist’s Self-Rescue Guide After the Failure of Love](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/centrists-self-rescue) He Fa’s Who Are the Centrists? uses repetition and wordplay to unsettle a position; Fafalish changes sentences through transcription and translation. Both intervene in meaning, but writing and conversion do not constitute the same mechanism of error. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2021 / P4U immersive theatre; associated writing Period document [The production and He Fa’s writing ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/centrists-self-rescue#chapter-1) The project text and He Fa’s Who Is a Centrist? of 23 April 2021 ground audience choices, character speech and repetitive language; production credits remain distinct. The project text and He Fa’s Who Is a Centrist? of 23 April 2021 ground audience choices, character speech and repetitive language; production credits remain distinct. Period document [Chinese poem ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-3) The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. Language in transit How later voices enter the material [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [YourTube](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/yourtube) Fafalish repeatedly changes text through transcription and translation; YourTube brings phonetic reinterpretation, on-screen comments and re-editing into multiple screens. Both expose material to later interpretations, but successive linguistic conversions and the juxtaposition of earlier viewing traces unfold at different rhythms. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2018 / Multi-screen video installation Read the source materials Event record [A playback file finds its place in the installation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/yourtube#chapter-11) The Dayou.mp4 shown in the installation instructions corresponds to the saved file of the same name and size; its frames retain on-screen comments and picture-in-picture. Period document [Chinese poem ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-3) The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=yourtube) Language in transit ### How later voices enter the material [Fafalish](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish) ↔ [YourTube](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/yourtube) Fafalish repeatedly changes text through transcription and translation; YourTube brings phonetic reinterpretation, on-screen comments and re-editing into multiple screens. Both expose material to later interpretations, but successive linguistic conversions and the juxtaposition of earlier viewing traces unfold at different rhythms. 2017 / Language, video, printed text 2018 / Multi-screen video installation Event record [A playback file finds its place in the installation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/yourtube#chapter-11) The Dayou.mp4 shown in the installation instructions corresponds to the saved file of the same name and size; its frames retain on-screen comments and picture-in-picture. The Dayou.mp4 shown in the installation instructions corresponds to the saved file of the same name and size; its frames retain on-screen comments and picture-in-picture. Period document [Chinese poem ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/fafalish#chapter-3) The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. The CCA exhibition statement supplies six transformations: Chinese poetry, literal English translation, accented reading, pinyin transcription, Chinese rewriting and machine translation into English. FROM HERE, ELSEWHERE ## Passages between works [Meaning on the way](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/paths/translation) Poetry, literal translation, accent, transcription and machine translation pass meaning along until error acquires a form. Poetry, literal translation, accent, transcription and machine translation pass meaning along until error acquires a form. [The container takes part](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/paths/container) Text extends across walls and a column, while a listening station offers another rhythm of attention. Text extends across walls and a column, while a listening station offers another rhythm of attention. ### Related records in the archive [YourTube ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/yourtube) 2018 [Shixiang ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/shixiang) 2019–2020 ## [Archival research index：P4 / US period ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive#US-d84d26bf) Return to related manuscripts, versions and process leads. Research status and work credits remain distinct; this link does not imply that source footage is playable online. ## [Fa’s review: When Assessment Enters the Work →](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive/review#review-s5) A work list, a statement about artistic identity and several camera positions bring the occasion of judgement inside the work.