The Counting Piece

The Counting Piece is an installation and performance work centered on the act of counting—and specifically, counting a large pile of empty toilet paper roll tubes that Bu collected and accumulated over six years prior to the exhibition.

The collecting process was a socially engaged activity involving Bu’s friends and members of her community. The performance itself involved numbering, dating, and stamping each roll using name stamps inherited from Bu’s late mother, alongside her own. Through stamping, Bu symbolically claimed each roll as a unique artwork, transforming everyday waste into objects of reflection and value.

Presented as part of a group exhibition featuring 40 artists at Hart’s Mill, an old factory space in Port Adelaide, Bu performed the counting over the course of 30 hours across the 10 public exhibition days (plus an additional 10 hours in the 10 days leading up to the opening). A total of 5,006 tubes were counted, numbered, dated, and stamped. The final exhibition day was dedicated to tending to the pile—acknowledging the quiet labor and accumulation that had come before.

For Bu, the act of counting is a meditation on the lived experience—the small, repetitive, and shared routines that define our humanity. By choosing toilet paper—a basic, universal necessity—Bu shifts the focus from difference to commonality. This ethos also runs through her tea-pouring performances, which similarly explore shared rituals.

The performance begins with Bu dragging a suitcase into the gallery. She circles the pile a few times, then opens the suitcase, changes into her performance clothing, tosses newly collected tubes into the pile, and carefully sets out her counting tools.

Each act of counting is performed as a meditation on time lived and still living, drawing inspiration from Tai Buddhist monk Ajahn Chah’s book Toilet on the Path (Chinese title: “道在茅坑中,” meaning The Tao is in the Toilet). With mindfulness and repetition, Bu turns the banal into the profound.

Bilge, Fringe Festival group exhibition curated by Tony Kearny

25 Feb-29 March 2023

Hart’s Mill, Packing Shed, Port Adelaide