# Iceberg Canonical: https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg Iceberg, 2021–2022. Intimate live theatre. He Fa’s role: Producer. 2021–2022 / Intimate live theatre A small office and fifteen spectators: spatial proximity becomes part of the work. Iceberg documentation, P4 Theater. HE FA’S ROLE Producer ## Work record Iceberg, 2021–2022. Intimate live theatre. He Fa’s role: Producer. Work / series Iceberg Date 2021–2022 Medium Intimate live theatre He Fa’s role Producer Catalogue section Collaborative practice Cite this record: Iceberg · 2021–2022 · Producer · [https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg) [2021-12-07 | Original Chinese source: 北风剧社招募 ｜ 我和来自戏剧荒漠的文豪](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2021/2021-12-07-北风剧社招募-我和来自戏剧荒漠的文豪-c54ab36f1e/) WORK WORLD / OPEN FROM HERE What does viewing become when there is no distant position? Year 2021–2022 Medium Live theatre, spatial installation and collective creation Role Producer Further reading Eight makers and fifteen spectators entered the same small office; Iceberg was performed at 19:30 on 1 January 2022. ## Project statement Iceberg was developed by eight makers and opened to an audience of fifteen inside a small office. Crowding, obstruction, silence and the difficulty of entering or leaving directly changed how the event could be seen. The performance took place at 19:30 on 1 January 2022. Makers and spectators shared the same room without the stable distance of a proscenium stage. A line through the work ## Two venue disruptions before Iceberg took shape On December 7, 2021, He Fa described meeting Qu Wenhao, planning a production and forming a group again. After the Diaosutai venue stopped opening in June, a proposed ninth production initiated by Qu was halted. They began recruiting in a Wangjing office to develop Qu’s Iceberg. He Fa delegated most organizing work to Qu while occupied elsewhere; another venue problem arose in September. Iceberg’s development thus involved repeated changes of space, people and organization. When restarting, the two decided to discuss shared values before forming North Wind Theatre. The article explicitly credits Qu with writing the nine-point declaration; He Fa endorsed it and joined the invitation. Its principles include respecting an initiator’s impulse, bringing personal concerns into roles, expressing views openly and addressing disagreement. The record therefore retains Qu’s authorship of the declaration and their joint initiation of the company. ## Related sources [2021-12-07 | Original Chinese source: 北风剧社招募 ｜ 我和来自戏剧荒漠的文豪](https://p4theater.cn/articles/2021/2021-12-07-北风剧社招募-我和来自戏剧荒漠的文豪-c54ab36f1e/) CLOSE READING / 2026 CURATORIAL INTERPRETATION ## Iceberg What does viewing become when there is no distant position? ### Begin with what happens in the work Eight makers and fifteen spectators occupy an office of a little over ten square metres. The public archive retains live material, smoke tests and post-performance discussion and criticism. The space gives no one a frontal position from which everything can be safely surveyed. Another body blocks the view, and one’s own movement changes a neighbour’s sightline. Silence, crowding and difficulty moving become concrete materials. The intensity cannot be reproduced simply by enlarging a video. It comes from the bodily cost of looking in limited space and from the impossibility of imagining the spectator as an eye that leaves the event untouched. Yet physical closeness proves neither a deep relation nor equal willingness to participate. Spatial facts should coexist with differing audience accounts rather than translating every discomfort into proof of artistic success. He Fa’s production role deserves a concrete description of how venue, schedule, light and documentation enabled collective work. The site can begin with the identifiable office and viewing positions, then let footage and criticism open that small space further. ### The limits of this reading Still photographs and plans do not reproduce the live experience. The producer credit is not rewritten as sole director. Based on performance records, the public work page and its linked North Wind Theatre archive. [Work archive and source documents](#work-record) TAKE A PATH ACROSS ## Other paths from this work. Spaces transformed Between blankness and crowding [Iceberg](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg) ↔ [Illusion](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/huan) Illusion separates poses from a setting through a white background; Iceberg places performers and spectators in a small office. Spatial cues recede in one, while obstruction and proximity become unavoidable conditions in the other. 2021–2022 / Intimate live theatre 2011 / Photography, light box Read the source materials Work image [Images and presentation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/huan#chapter-1) The body in the first portfolio image is set against white, with no support visible; the photographs are not labelled as successive stages of motion. Event record [Project statement ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg#chapter-3) The event record specifies 1 January 2022, an office, eight makers and fifteen audience members, including crowding and obstruction as conditions of viewing. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=huan) Spaces transformed ### Between blankness and crowding [Iceberg](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg) ↔ [Illusion](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/huan) Illusion separates poses from a setting through a white background; Iceberg places performers and spectators in a small office. Spatial cues recede in one, while obstruction and proximity become unavoidable conditions in the other. 2021–2022 / Intimate live theatre 2011 / Photography, light box Work image [Images and presentation ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/huan#chapter-1) The body in the first portfolio image is set against white, with no support visible; the photographs are not labelled as successive stages of motion. The body in the first portfolio image is set against white, with no support visible; the photographs are not labelled as successive stages of motion. Event record [Project statement ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg#chapter-3) The event record specifies 1 January 2022, an office, eight makers and fifteen audience members, including crowding and obstruction as conditions of viewing. The event record specifies 1 January 2022, an office, eight makers and fifteen audience members, including crowding and obstruction as conditions of viewing. Spaces transformed Enclosure can be planned or constrained [Iceberg](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg) ↔ [Hamlet’s Mirror / Four-screen CAFAM Proposal](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hamlets-mirror-cafam-proposal) The CAFAM four-screen proposal distinguishes audience and performance zones in drawings; Iceberg shares limited office space. Both arrange enclosure and spectatorship, but imagined zoning cannot stand in for actual obstruction. 2021–2022 / Intimate live theatre 2016 / Proposal for four-screen projection, live performance and real-time video · Proposals Read the source materials Period document [From one screen to four ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hamlets-mirror-cafam-proposal#chapter-2) The jointly signed proposal of 5 September 2016 surrounds the space with four screens and distinguishes audience and performance areas by colour; the evidence is a proposal and equipment arrangement. Event record [Project statement ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg#chapter-3) The event record specifies 1 January 2022, an office, eight makers and fifteen audience members, including crowding and obstruction as conditions of viewing. [Continue from this work ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/crossings#work=hamlets-mirror-cafam-proposal) Spaces transformed ### Enclosure can be planned or constrained [Iceberg](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg) ↔ [Hamlet’s Mirror / Four-screen CAFAM Proposal](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hamlets-mirror-cafam-proposal) The CAFAM four-screen proposal distinguishes audience and performance zones in drawings; Iceberg shares limited office space. Both arrange enclosure and spectatorship, but imagined zoning cannot stand in for actual obstruction. 2021–2022 / Intimate live theatre 2016 / Proposal for four-screen projection, live performance and real-time video · Proposals Period document [From one screen to four ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/hamlets-mirror-cafam-proposal#chapter-2) The jointly signed proposal of 5 September 2016 surrounds the space with four screens and distinguishes audience and performance areas by colour; the evidence is a proposal and equipment arrangement. The jointly signed proposal of 5 September 2016 surrounds the space with four screens and distinguishes audience and performance areas by colour; the evidence is a proposal and equipment arrangement. Event record [Project statement ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/iceberg#chapter-3) The event record specifies 1 January 2022, an office, eight makers and fifteen audience members, including crowding and obstruction as conditions of viewing. The event record specifies 1 January 2022, an office, eight makers and fifteen audience members, including crowding and obstruction as conditions of viewing. 2026-10-04 / ARCHIVAL ADDITION ## Source materials, process and versions Meetings, rehearsals, location work and edited films remain distinct. A meeting record can be read alongside the public poster without confusing production discussion with the finished film. DJI_0015.JPG · Web access copy from the preserved source [DJI_0015.JPG ↗](https://b.p4theater.cn/sources/cv-iceberg-6fcfe61341e7) 8f9fb16e200f98acf6f46a32fde1135.png · Web access copy from the preserved source [8f9fb16e200f98acf6f46a32fde1135.png ↗](https://b.p4theater.cn/sources/cv-iceberg-03008edd81b5) [DJI_0044.MP4 ↗](https://b.p4theater.cn/sources/cv-iceberg-17d23d4fe502) [2022-01-01 19-26-48 NJZB 3840x2160 30fps.MOV ↗](https://b.p4theater.cn/sources/cv-iceberg-9a9ef38871f8) [Follow the other material strands ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/reading/materials-and-process#iceberg) FROM HERE, ELSEWHERE ## Passages between works [After moving closer](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/paths/distance) A small office brings bodies together while making obstruction and yielding space part of spectatorship. A small office brings bodies together while making obstruction and yielding space part of spectatorship. ### Related records in the archive [P4 Theater ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/p4-theatre) 2015–present [Purples / Purple Action ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/purple-action) 2021 ## [Archival research index：P4 / US period ↗](https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/reading/p4-and-us-archive#P4-6934dc21) 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.