Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi

Cai Yuan and Jian Jun Xi are two Chinese-born artists, based in Britain, who work together under the name Mad For Real. They have enacted (unofficial) events at the Venice Biennale and the Turner Prize, where, in 1999, they jumped onto Tracey Emin's My Bed installation. Originally finding fame as performance artists specialising in art intervention, they have since diversified, engaging in numerous works in both Asia and Europe.

At the time of the My Bed incident (below) in 1999, Cai was aged 43 and resident in Stoke Newington. He gained a BA from Maidstone College of Art and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1991. Both colleges had also been attended by Tracey Emin although she was not a contemporary. Xi (born in China in 1962) was 37, and from Camden Town. He is a Goldsmiths College, University of London graduate.

Their best-known performance occurred at 12.58 p.m. on 25 October 1999, when they jumped on Tracey Emin's installation My Bed, a work incorporating memorabilia on and around an unmade bed, in the Turner Prize at Tate Britain. They called their performance Two Naked Men Jump into Tracey's Bed (although in fact they kept their trousers on). They had in mind including some "critical sex" as they considered "a sexual act was necessary to fully respond to Tracey's piece", although this part of their intention was not fulfilled. A visitor reported, "Everyone at the exhibition started clapping as they thought it was part of the show. At first, the security people didn't know what to do." It was not clear to some whether the action was part of Emin's display or even a protest against the current visit of Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Another visitor commented, "After a few minutes of hopping about and shouting I think they ran out of things to do. If they had tried to wreck it, or stolen the vodka or her knickers, I might have felt differently. It made my weekend." The men only had time to start a pillow fight and attempt a swig from one of the empty vodka bottles next to the bed, before they were apprehended. The police and security guards were booed when they took the pair away. Cai and Xi were arrested for their action, but no charges were pressed, since "neither the gallery nor the artist had any desire to bring the matter further".

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Wikipedia