The Last Summer

Overview

The film documents a group of underground conceptual artists and performance artists active in the folk art scene of Chengdu, China. It captures their process of engaging in underground art creation and organizing underground art exhibitions during the summer of 1999, the final summer of the 20th century. The summer of 1999 was a tumultuous period in Chinese politics. It marked the tenth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, the outbreak of the "Falun Gong incident," and the moment when Taiwan's leader, Lee Teng-hui, made the "two-state theory" declaration, almost leading to a war between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. These underground artists used their creations to reflect their understanding and perspectives on Chinese history and contemporary society. However, their actions were constantly under official surveillance.