Zhonghua Sui

Zhonghua is an observer in the dystopian spectacle of China’s post hyper-globalization social landscape. Growing up in a big economic era, he creates realistic art as an idealist in the midst of changes and conflicts in perception.

In addition to this, he applies a sociological mindset to fashion to see it as “the art of the possible”. By reflecting on his own life experiences, he argues that it is not only the system that determines the shape of life, but also the market, society and each individual.

Fashion for example, masks the traces of participation in the processes of manufacture. His work discusses the ‘disappearing process’ in the industry to redefine structures, empowering workers and marginalising participants.

The notReadymade documents the cradle-to-grave life cycle of a group of commodities to make a gentle disruption to the system. The truth is portrayed through a performance of multiple depositions, by duplicating the external form of a ready-made product.

The aim is to visualize the hundreds of production relationships that are hidden by the “simple act of payment.” The aim is to visualize the invisible violence of “industrial manufactured demand” and its attendant modernity at large.

You will find them on display in retail shops. A bizarre piece hiding among other items, reproduced by real workers, which record the labour process with the fingerprints left behind. It once paled in the midst of promotional crowds, while still walking gently into the good night with drunken gourmets in the heart of the metropolis. Birthplace is a far cry from urgency.

“These violent delights have violent ends.” The garments from the installation make their final deposition to life in the rubbish collection, as white and clean as the primordial state of everything. Erased from workers and consumers, its life will continue forever in the toxic and beautiful cycle of commercialization.

Fashion is performed on time, when the means designed to achieve an end become the end itself, the possibility of achieving the end is cancelled. Things without a price are perhaps more significant than readymade products. Doing something notReadymade offers the best moments, as people can then participate in fashion as a creator instead of being defined by the demands created by system and thus go against alienation and personally enjoy both fashion and life.

— Trading based on the division of labour breaks away from its fundamental principles. All transactions are based on a unified abstract number and people live numbered lives.

Piece rate wage: one dimensional man — Focused mainly on the culture of overwork in Asia, a debate ensued in which anti-capitalist tirades went viral, but these were more like funny memes and nostalgia than calls to action. When the discussion became blurred, it was no longer easy to distinguish emotions and consciousness, so the inevitable form of capital develops in which everyone is inserted into a system from which it is difficult to withdraw and obscures identifying attributes.

— The value of commodities is reflected in the human relationship, once you engage in consumption, you are invisibly involved in hundreds of relationships, from shop assistants, delivery people, to farmers who grow cotton. However, for consumers, all of these people’s participation is just covered in the extremely simple act of payment，which is also covered by the external form of commodities.

Multiple replacement and return actions can be used to question the spectacle. First, buy repetitive, white, basic readymade products from fast-moving people such as ordinary consumers and then copy one exactly the same but use fingerprinting to record the process of workers making garments on recycled textiles and thus visualise the traces of the labourer's work. Put it back for the first time by inserting the copy piece into the clean and white garments and place the real original on a display stand and in real stores.

Medium:

Recycled ripstop nylon, fade-resistant dye ink, book of 1000 Tickets

In Collaboration with:

Haolan Qin

Haolan is a business art consultant in the real estate industry based in London. She combining sustainable fashion with architectural contextualism an existentialist to present a highly humanistic balance of business and art. Her sincerity of understanding and self-consciousness are describes by herself as "a human" rather than a humanist.

Please Recycle by Yourself

CokeWay — The soft drink shelf was the most frequent sources of pleasure during quarantine. I never found the texture until I started to look at it seriously, It seemed to mock me: there are some intangibles that even need to be purposely hidden.

Unified demand: Manufacturing becomes the source of demand and is no longer a primitive human desire and motivation. When products have nothing to do with the worker's will, separate from labour and demander, the production process will inevitably change. The meaning of a worker's life in the finished product is cancelled. How much of the discussion about sustainability revolves around workers and nobody knows who the workers are who support fashion week.

— For the second return, make it into a rail installation to send it around prosperous metropolitan places where it can have the most brilliant moment of its life stage as a commodity.

The buckle in the Room — This leads to a value system and mental state oriented by the exchange value in which people are covered invisible. The distance becomes extremely far and as a result, participation in violence becomes possible and people will continue to turn a blind eye.

Does location defines authenticity — You will see the audience dancing in front of the installation but this is just to visualise the consumption lifestyle of us all without realisation. We do not care about ethical living or who made those products.

Many stories happen silently to fill up this uncertainty due to the time difference between products and the separation of consumption from demand. After capital enables production of commodities, new forms of existence are created and commodities are displayed on shelves peacefully and flowing slowly as the shelves are pushed through all scenes in the commercial street, which is visible. The loop of invisible capital to capital flows to meet the expected demand.

Therefore, larger loops will last forever and will have to gain attention in crowded shopping malls to attract new eyes. In the new area, a new group of people will be transformed into laborers and new labour surplus value will be generated to fill this vicious circle of overproduction and expected sales.

Medium:

Clear resin, Recycled ripstop nylon, Garments on sale

In Collaboration with:

Vivian Siqi @zsqzsy870231

Vivian S.Q., a maker and conceptual artist, Her work is all handmade, through a combination of traditional crafts and creative experiments, to achieve a special texture and innovative production process.

Absurd Absurdity Activism Critical Practice dislocation Empowerment Irony Labour London Marxism Political Social

— "The opposition between a commodity and its value-form has developed into an absolute contradiction"

Garbage collection — Print the documentary photograph on the banner and return to where it took place. All works are handed over to the garbage collection team to load and leave.

— Is there a product that is not for sale, something you consider priceless, even if it is worthless?

In terms of personal consumption experience, some are considered affordable, but that status in the garment industry is extremely dependent on creating demand since the ratio of production to demand may be over-exaggerated. This kind of logical business cycle structure is a huge waste of the Earth’s resources, waste becomes a necessity from assumption in the name of democracy.

Alienation Commodity Community Consumerism Critical Practice Ecology Ethics (non-human)Humour Recycle Urgency

Zhonghua Sui

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Royal College of Art