Burning the Game, 2023
Handmade paper (recycled office paper), adhesive, gold thread, stones, branches
Installation / performative burning action
Variable dimensions
Burning the Game, 2023. Documentation: after the burning.
Burning the Game, 2023. Documentation: the burning action.
Burning the Game begins with paper as a material and as a carrier of language. The project starts by collecting discarded paper from everyday surroundings. The paper is reprocessed and remade by hand, then assembled into sculptural forms based on a simple game structure. These forms are sewn, arranged, and prepared through repetitive labor.
Burning the Game, 2023. Process: making paper by hand.
Burning the Game, 2023. Documentation: before the burning.
The final stage of the work is a burning action. The paper structures are set on fire and destroyed in a controlled ritual. The process is documented, but the objects themselves do not remain.
Through making, organizing, and burning, Burning the Game examines how systems, rules, and language are learned, internalized, and enacted. The work traces the relationship between participation and obedience, and how meaning shifts when a structure is both carefully built and deliberately erased.
Burning the Game, 2023. Process: paper pulp.
© 2026 Yuchen Hou. All rights reserved.
Burning the Game, 2023
Handmade paper (recycled office paper), adhesive, gold thread, stones, branches
Installation / performative burning action
Variable dimensions
Burning the Game, 2023. Documentation: after the burning.
Burning the Game, 2023. Documentation: the burning action.
Burning the Game begins with paper as a material and as a carrier of language. The project starts by collecting discarded paper from everyday surroundings. The paper is reprocessed and remade by hand, then assembled into sculptural forms based on a simple game structure. These forms are sewn, arranged, and prepared through repetitive labor.
Burning the Game, 2023. Process: making paper by hand.
The final stage of the work is a burning action. The paper structures are set on fire and destroyed in a controlled ritual. The process is documented, but the objects themselves do not remain.
Burning the Game, 2023. Documentation: before the burning.
Through making, organizing, and burning, Burning the Game examines how systems, rules, and language are learned, internalized, and enacted. The work traces the relationship between participation and obedience, and how meaning shifts when a structure is both carefully built and deliberately erased.
Burning the Game, 2023. Process: paper pulp.
© 2026 Yuchen Hou. All rights reserved.