Xiaoran Zhu - C.L.A.P. US · CLIENT: ROCA Beijing Gallery
The artist aims to explore the alienation of people under consumerism, reflecting on the excessive pursuit of luxury, medical aesthetics and fast fashion in contemporary society. The vacuum air bag is chosen as the medium for its dual attributes of airtightness and mobility, which perfectly fit the reflection on the closed and flowing characteristics of consumer desire, expecting to arouse universal thinking on the true meaning of consumption and the pursuit of the authentic self.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The artist aims to explore the alienation of people under consumerism, reflecting on the excessive pursuit of luxury, medical aesthetics and fast fashion in contemporary society. The vacuum air bag is chosen as the medium for its dual attributes of airtightness and mobility, which perfectly fit the reflection on the closed and flowing characteristics of consumer desire, expecting to arouse universal thinking on the true meaning of consumption and the pursuit of the authentic self.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Space Scale：800 ㎡ two-floor indoor space
The exhibition is a site-specific immersive installation art project, and the air bag installation can be flexibly adjusted according to the venue space, and the on-site inflation and pressure maintenance technology is used to ensure the stable shape of the air bags during the exhibition period, with the whole installation system maintaining good airtightness for the exhibition cycle. - Tags
- Consumerism, Immersive Art, Installation Art, Site Specific, Cross Regional, Interactive Exhibition, Visual Art, Art Reflection
- Production Technology
- The core installation adopts industrial vacuum air bags as the main material, matched with commercial price tags of various specifications for artistic transformation. The creation technology includes on-site inflation construction in multiple U.S. and China cities to endow the works with regional spatial attributes, The exhibition adopts immersive pop-up and building an interactive space through the dense arrangement of thousands of air bag installations. The visual expression technology relies on the contrast between the inflated volume of the air bags and the tiny price tags, and the spatial layering of the installation to form a strong visual impact, combined with on-site audience interaction guidance to realize the transformation from visual appreciation to thinking resonance.
- Design Challenge
- At the end of 2024, a new sanitary ware product from Roca Beijing Gallery is set to be launched. Entrusted by the client, we (C.L.A.P. US) intended to co-host an interactive art exhibition with artists to promote the new product through this event. Yet the client was keen to avoid the event devolving into a mere product launch due to over-commercialization, instead hoping to achieve organic brand communication in a subtle, unobtrusive manner within this immersive interactive art experience. We submitted multiple versions of the proposal, all of which the client considered to carry overly prominent commercial undertones. In light of this, we conducted an extensive array of research and field visits; ultimately, Audrey (Xiaoran Zhu) crafted a strategic artistic curation, forging a remarkable site-specific synergy between the air bag installation series by conceptual artist Julie Hu and the new product.
- Project Duration
- The project started in 2024 in New York, Boston and Chicago of the United States for the creation of the core installation, and the on-site exhibition was held in Beijing and Shanghai of China in the same year. The pop-up exhibition in each city lasted for 7 days, with the whole project from creation to the end of all exhibitions completed in 6 months in 2025.
- Operation Flow
- In modern consumer society, commercialization and marketization reshape people’s lives, identities defined by commodity labels and desires inflated by symbols, as Jean Baudrillard noted that consumption has become a symbolic performance beyond material needs. Visual artist Julie (Xiwen Hu) created her core installation Vacuum Air Bags in U.S. cities, transported them to China, and held a SOLO Exhibition themed CLOSE FLOW.
The work, thousands of inflated air bags with price tags, deconstructs consumerism, price tags symbolize commodity value. The pop-up immersive exhibition became interactive, attracting many check-ins. The uncertainty of whether the air is from the U.S. echoes commodity value’s ambiguity, guiding audiences to reflect on consumption, desires and the true self, embodying contemporary art’s value in responding to social issues. - Research
- In the wave of modern consumer society, the logic of commodification and marketization has deeply permeated the fabric of life, reshaping people's lifestyles, value perceptions, and social connections. Consumers' identities are defined by the labels of the goods they possess, while their inner desires continue to expand amidst the endless allure of commodity symbols. The true self is gradually obscured by a fog, becoming a pressing question to explore.
As Jean Baudrillard profoundly analyzed in his classic work *The Consumer Society*, contemporary consumption has long transcended the functional satisfaction of material needs, evolving into an act of constructing social relationships and imbuing personal meaning through commodity symbols. Consumption itself has become a meticulously choreographed "symbolic performance," rather than a simple process of acquiring material goods. - Inspiration
- Inspired by the profound changes of modern consumer society where commercialization and marketization reshape lifestyles, values and social connections, with individuals’ identities defined by commodity labels and desires endlessly inflated by symbolic goods.
- Image Credits
- Artist: Julie Hu(Xiwen Hu)
ROCA Beijing Gallery Director: Jasmine Zhou
Chief Curator: Audrey (Xiaoran Zhu)
Curator: Nicky Meng
Art Director: Arlene Sun
Video: GQ Chen
Photography: Ning Sun
Visual Design: Unakoko (Jingting Wang)
Digital Visual Design: SLO.syx
Executive Producer: Dylan Deng
Music: Norton Chamberlain - Patents
- Onsite Photographer: Ning Sun
C.L.A.P. US (Creative visualization poster/short film frame) ©2024~2026
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