shen shaomin: summit

designboom visited the biennale of sydney where chinese artist shen shaomin’s installation ‘summit’ (2010) is currently being exhibited. known for his way of connecting art, life and craft with mechanics expressing themes of war, futuristic crisis, scientific abomination and the manipulation of nature, shaomin uses ancient chinese culture to comment on contemporary ecological issues, politics and technology.

‘summit’ was conceived as a response to the global financial crisis. taking the annual G8 summit as a point of reference, shaomin has created a hypothetical meeting of five of the most significant communist leaders: fidel alejandro castro, ho chi minh, kim II-sung, mao zedong and vladimir lenin. their life-sized corpses have been arranged in a pentagon, resting within crystal coffins that reflect their nationalities. castro, the still-live exception, gently breathing, lies silently on his deathbed.

‘summit’, 2010 fidel alejandro castro former presdient of the council of state of cuba, primary leaders of the cuban revolution image © designboom

‘the G5 summit delegates failed to exercise the power they had, and merely attended the meeting. as the world sinks into a morass of economic disasters, and people are questioning capitalist values and systems, will their thoughts turn back to those forgotten and departed pioneers of socialism? Will people today be inspired to think hard about the ideas, views and theories of lenin, mao zedong, kim II sung, ho chi-minh and castro?’

each of the life-sized figures are made from silica gel simulation, acrylic and fabric. dimensions variable. the project was made possible through the support of osage art foundation, hong kong.

‘summit’, 2010 fidel alejandro castro (detail) former presdient of the council of state of cuba, primary leaders of the cuban revolution image © designboom

‘summit’, 2010 kim II-sung former general secretary of the workers party of korea president of the democratic people’s republic of korea image © designboom

‘summit’, 2010 kim II-sung (side view) former general secretary of the workers party of korea president of the democratic people’s republic of korea image © designboom

‘summit’, 2010 kim II-sung (detail) former general secretary of the workers party of korea president of the democratic people’s republic of korea image © designboom