Beijing based fraternal pair Gao Brothers have been collaborating on nstallation, performance, sculpture, photography works and writing now for three decades and shocking museums around the world with their guerrilla tactic art, one such featuring an apologetic Chairman Mao on his knees with a detachable head. Exhibitions by the Gao brothers, whose work the authorities find politically challenging, have been shut down in the past, and their studio has been raided. So they keep the head of Mao hidden in a separate location — reuniting it with its body only on special occasions to show friends and colleagues. Normally, the body of the statue remains headless, unidentifiable and nonthreatening.
