…Fang Lu has herself or invites other people to play out a certain designated role, emotion or state of being in an isolated space and for a sufficient period of time until this “acted” or “artificial” state of being becomes a genuine condition. Her camera generates this transition and captures it for the rest of us. Yet the role of Fang’s camera is more than a recorder of what has happened, but a part of Fang’s conspiracy in which the border between performance and real actions is blurred. To further uproot the idea of video as a faithful recording tool, Fang would usually rework the sequence of events in her videos through editing. She directs and occasionally performs one drama after another with her video camera, in front of which, the performers would progressively move into and carve out an autonomous, self-absorbed and convincingly realistic space. It’s no longer important to question the legitimacy of these actions or emotions, as the solidity and density of their beings have completely won over us.

Unrecording tries to give a modest review of the artist’s portfolio from one of her earliest films Untitled Beings (2001) to one of her latest Skin (2010). But more importantly, it’s the artist’s attempt to communicate her idea of video-making: that it is not always just about recording. Even though the camera is recording what is happening, it is not always realistic, even less documentary. 

                                            — Text by Carol Yinghua Lu, excerpt, originally published by Space Station, July 2010