“Journey to Wenzhou explores anarchy and the concept of "de-production" through a dystopian future or alternate present, where chance, imagined consensus, supernatural forces, and disjointed fragments of life intertwine. After a year of unemployment, sustained by the dwindling costs of living and the co-dependence of friends, I have been increasingly with ease in the recognition of the ideas shaped by the state’s discursive framework, from which I have distanced myself. For example, the moral value of “being employed” (versus joblessness), the form of labor control and social obedience training driven by the idea of “outperforming others” , as well as with the moral underpinnings that encourage competition. As an Urban Planning major, I was disillusioned to discover the latent violence in state-driven government planning enforced by coercive power. Only by stepping away from these institutions was I able to observe the subtle strategies of escape employed by ordinary people against systemic violence.”
A surreal adventure set in the margins of a dystopian urban society where the protagonist explores an alternative way of living, designed by Feng Feiteng, translation by Yuchen Fu, bilingual edition in English and Chinese.
Soft cover 23 x 16,5 cm, 84 pages, Shanghai 2024
