The video installation No Reason Why (2010) by Hu Xiaoyuan (born in 1977, lives and works in Beijing) seems to show, at first glance, the strange and slow choreography of a cocoon moving across a table or in a box. In its protective envelope, a body is writhing; hatching seems imminent. Tightly wrapped in cloth, a girl struggles in a long performance without end that illustrates the thin line between protection and confinement, shelter and prison. Hu Xiaoyuan’s videos, drawings and installations isolate small repetitive movements and light impulses. Stretching across time, they are like so many fragments of life roused by an invisible breeze. Using fabric, organic materials and wood, Hu Xiaoyuan composes optical poetic games that fluctuate between tranquility and confinement.