Medicine 药

Creator(s)

Zhen-Zhong YANG 杨振忠

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Date

1995

Format

Article

Materials

monkey sperm, fermented rice, scallion root, poppy shell, oleander leaf, tobacco.

Description

monkey sperm, fermented rice, scallion root, poppy shell, oleander leaf, tobacco. “Medicine” is a conceptual work as photographs show the process that the artist makes of "medicine". According to its documentation, the piece involves a sequence of actions: the extraction of a monkey’s sperm, its combination with various other ingredients, and its eventual transformation into a form of medicine. At the bottom left of the installation, the artist leaves a handwritten note: “If you still believe that the monkey is our ancestor, then when you have a toothache, you should go to them to seek the medicine that can cure you. The day your monkey ancestor evolved into a human, he had a fever — and that is the origin of your illness. Thinking of his descendants’ future happiness, he became so excited that he wept. Now he realizes he has a fever and needs glucose. From that day on, he no longer chases after female monkeys, for he has become obsessed with masturbation — and his sperm is the cure for your toothache.” The bewildered demonstration might refer to Chinese traditional medicine, which is criticized as "unscientific" and "superstitious" by some pharmacists and biochem researchers who have been educated in modern-western medicine. But in the artist's description, he also expresses his idea on Darwinism in a teasing tone. It seems he is pointing out the disturbing correlation between superstition and scientific belief and therefore criticizing the superstition in modern medicine. (Zhuocheng Jiang '26)