“New Era Women 新时代 女性” is a kinetic installation that questions how the public discourse and the state’s rhetoric has reinforced Chinese women’s double burden of reproductive and public-sector labor and justifies it by associating it with China’s prosperity. It consists of a AI-powered reproduction slogan printing machine, a manual dough-sheeter machine through audience interaction, and a megaphone looping selected AI-generated and real-life pro-reproduction slogans.
Project Video
Abstract
"New Era Women 新时代女性" is a kinetic installation that questions how public discourse and state rhetoric have reinforced the dual burden of reproductive and public-sector labor for Chinese women, justifying it as a contribution to China's prosperity. Since the 1950s, under the celebrated slogan “Women hold up half of the sky,” Chinese women have been encouraged to enter the public-sector workforce. Despite these advances, women have never been truly freed from the demands of reproductive labor. The situation has worsened recently as declining fertility rates have led to increased state propaganda and policies emphasizing women's roles in reproduction, while simultaneously expecting their continued contribution to the public workforce in an increasingly challenging labor market. This stark contrast between China's economic and technological aspirations and the ongoing struggles faced by women highlights a fundamental absurdity. Can China's economic growth be sustained without the emancipation of women? What is the future of a society that advances technology while oppressing women with dual labor expectations? "New Era Women 新时代女性" sits at the intersection of these issues, exploring the societal expectations regarding women's reproductive roles and the grand narrative of national prosperity. The installation features a printing machine that imprints AI-generated pro-reproduction slogans onto dough, which is then distorted by a manual dough-sheeter operated by the audience. Accompanying this is a megaphone looping a mix of AI-generated and real-life pro-reproduction slogans. Set in an industrialized Chinese-style kitchen, the installation requires audience participation, provoking critical reflection on the unfair burdens placed on Chinese women. It aggressively questions the rhetoric that rationalizes these burdens, prompting the audience to consider a fairer distribution of labor.
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