Argentum

2016 - Film & Video (Film & Video)

13:07 minutes

Li Xiaofei


Argentum is part of Li Li Xiaofei’s Assembly Line series. The film was shot in Dongchuan, a small town 180 km from Kunming. Ten years ago, in order to attract foreign investment, Dongchuan officially became a district of Kunming, thus giving it access to preferential policies. The government leveled off the tops of several mountains in order to build smelting operations, to grow the economy. Following this, a kind of natural phenomena appeared where smoke would mix with aerosols in a billowing spectacle. The environment is strongly polluted and the land could not be farmed. Because of poor technology, the factory didn’t earn enough benefit to operate fully; therefore, their income is very low. Everyone has no choice but to struggle through this strange phenomenon—this vicious cycle. The Assembly Line series examines the complex relationships between man and machine, management and labor, the individual and the society, as well as the questions of modernity. Li uses his unique documentary technique to combine interviews and scenery in the film. Compared to Li’s other films, Argentum has a more complex narrative. Through different perspectives, the workers, the factory owner, and the officers, Li presents the dilemma of the desire for the growth of the economy and the repercussions on the natural environment, which is the biggest problem of the development of today’s villages in China.


Li Xiaofei initiated Assembly Line in 2010, an ongoing project that records industrialized social change not only China, but as it occurs internationally. “Jindu” Gold City, “Yindu” Silver City, “Tongdu” Copper City, and “Niedu” Nickel City are just few of the many cities in China named after the minerals and metals that are mined and produced there. Li Xiaofei travelled across the country to shoot over 100 factories across China, while initiating dialogue and exchange with people of different positions within the assembly line. Through this documentation process, Li Xiaofei explores what lies beyond the orderliness of the assembly line, the capitalist factory, consumer society, social progress and social morals—the reality of people living in a highly systematic and institutionalized environment. He employed a “real time” shooting technique which was difficult to control, combined with the language of documentary and a fragmented interwoven approach to create a mutual restructuring and a transformation of the relationship between man and machine, in essence to reconstruct an illusory reality.


Colors:



Other related works, blended automatically  
» see more

Ponytail + Chongming Island II
© » KADIST

Li Xiaofei

Combined into a single two-channel HD video, Li Xiaofei’s Ponytail and Chongming Island II are silent portraits of the women assembly line workers at a Chinese kitchenware factory...

Related works sharing similar palette  
» see more

An Evening with Yin-Ju Chen
© » KADIST

Join us to welcome Yin-Ju Chen , Kadist SF artist-in-residence this Spring...

The Story Behind Iconic 90s Images of Cameron Diaz, Heath Ledger
© » ANOTHER

The Story Behind Iconic 90s Images of Cameron Diaz, Heath Ledger and More | AnOther As his new exhibition opens in Milan, Michel Haddi tells us the story behind some of his most famous images of Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Moss, Janet Jackson and more December 11, 2023 Text Gary Grimes Michel Haddi , the legendary French-Algerian fashion photographer, is a big believer in the importance of first impressions...

Cosmovision V - VI - VII
© » KADIST

Rometti Costales

2013

The three cut-outs are made of three aerial photographs coming from the archives of the Ecuadorian Military Geographic Institute...

As Far As We Could Get
© » KADIST

Iván Argote

2019

Iván Argote’s As Far As We Could Get comprises a series of video chapters made in the municipality of Palembang, Indonesia and the small town of Neiva, Colombia...

Other works by: » Li Xiaofei  
» see more

Ponytail + Chongming Island II
© » KADIST

Li Xiaofei

Combined into a single two-channel HD video, Li Xiaofei’s Ponytail and Chongming Island II are silent portraits of the women assembly line workers at a Chinese kitchenware factory...

Related artist(s) to: Li Xiaofei » Xu Tan  
» see more

Shanghai Biennale Awaiting Your Arrival
© » KADIST

Xu Tan

2000

Shanghai Biennale, Awaiting Your Arrival is an appropriation of the posters made to promote biennial art exhibitions...

Biennale, Dog
© » KADIST

Xu Tan

2003

Biennale, Dog is an appropriation of the posters made to promote biennial art exhibitions...

Related works found in the same semantic group  
» see more

A Slap in Wuhan
© » KADIST

Li Liao

2010

A Slap in Wuhan documents Li Liao’s performance in Wuhan, China on January 8, 2011...

Li Binyuan: Standing Guard
© » KADIST

Li Binyuan visited Manila to partake in a unique performance commissioned by Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD)...

Chinese Collector Jason Li on Scouring the Metaverse for Exciting New Art - via artnet news
© » LARRY'S LIST

We spoke with collector Jason Li about the David Shrigley that never fails to cheer him up, and the artists on his radar....

Archaeology of the Present (Dongguan) No. 4
© » KADIST

Li Jinghu

2016

Benefiting from its geographic proximity to Hong Kong, since the 1980s Dongguan has become the factory of the world, with toys, plastic products and clothing as the major industries in the town...