2021–2022↗
Iceberg
A small office and fifteen spectators: spatial proximity becomes part of the work.
Collaborative practice2022 / North Wind Theatre collective creation
Vortex
A month of rehearsals and changing participants forms the company’s second production.
- He Fa’s role
- Collective creator, member of the announced performing roster, author of a signed article
- Company
- North Wind Theatre, established by He Fa and Qu Wenhao
- Announced performance
- 12 March 2022, 19:30; Chongwenmenwai Subdistrict Social Organisation Service Centre, Beijing
Complete chapter contents
How the work took shape
Vortex is North Wind Theatre’s second production. In his signed article of 3 March 2022, He Fa describes a month of collective creation: some people left unexpectedly, others joined later, and rehearsals were both loose and tense. Each creator brought difficulties from their own circumstances. The notice names eleven members for the announced performance, including He Fa.
The text begins with a butterfly repeatedly beating its wings inside a screen, then moves through loops, lost signals, game language, love and uncertain paths. Rather than smoothing collective experience into a plot summary, it places differing voices in collision. Read with the roster and rehearsal account, it shows a work gathering from several people’s circumstances. The announced performance offers a temporary meeting, while the article retains voices that have not yet settled.
Published participants
Liang Yin, Qu Wenhao, Zhou Boru, Gao Pengfei, Zhang Haolin, Guo Qian, Wang Qing’er, Wang Baokun, Chen Chen, He Fa and Qi Zetao. The source states that the order does not indicate rank; this archive retains that order.
Moving image & related documents
Archive note
Compiled from the listed P4 documents, with later recollections dated separately. Editorial description and source excerpts are distinguished. English translations were prepared for this archive.
Continue exploring
Work record
Vortex, 2022. North Wind Theatre collective creation. He Fa’s role: Collective creator, member of the announced performing roster, author of a signed article.
- Work / series
- Vortex
- Date
- 2022
- Medium
- North Wind Theatre collective creation
- He Fa’s role
- Collective creator, member of the announced performing roster, author of a signed article
- Catalogue section
- Collaborative practice
Cite this record: Vortex · 2022 · Collective creator, member of the announced performing roster, author of a signed article · https://hefa.p4theater.cn/en/work/vortex
TAKE A PATH ACROSS
Other paths from this work.
Versions of a work
Facing a version before stability
Untitled stops after years of repeated rejection; Vortex’s announcement records members leaving and joining over a month. One ends an individual image’s revision; the other asks an unsettled collective to face a public-performance deadline.
Continue from this work ↗Read the source materials
- Period documentHow the work took shape ↗
He Fa’s signed performance text of 3 March 2022 records members leaving and joining during a month, multiple personal difficulties and an eleven-member list.
- Artist’s statementArtist statement in the portfolio ↗
The portfolio statement directly records prolonged making, repeated rejection and eventual abandonment; stopping does not prove that the problem was resolved.
- Period documentHow the work took shape ↗
- DOCUMENT RECORD
Working together
Different people bring different directions
VortexBecoming Wind, Breaking Waves
Vortex brings together difficulties carried by several members; Becoming Wind builds its invitation around Lifeng’s account. Both gather people, but one assembles parallel experiences while the other proposes a shared task from one person’s wish.
Continue from this work ↗Read the source materials
- Period documentHow the work took shape ↗
He Fa’s signed performance text of 3 March 2022 records members leaving and joining during a month, multiple personal difficulties and an eleven-member list.
- Period documentHow a personal story becomes a shared project ↗
The 2023 call jointly signed by Lifeng and He Fa starts from Lifeng’s account Ruma and invites collective writing, directing, performance and documentation.
- Period documentHow the work took shape ↗
2026-10-04 / ARCHIVAL ADDITION
Source materials, process and versions
The Vortex document juxtaposes the Beifeng manifesto, original plot, perceived problems and proposed changes. After Vortex asks what happens when a viewer becomes a performer and who carries responsibility for that participation.
FROM HERE, ELSEWHERE
Passages between works
Related records in the archive
- Iceberg ↗2021–2022
- P4 Theater ↗2015–present
- Romance Theatre ↗2022