Made in China
Video installation in a sea container
Made in China was developed for a site‑specific presentation in a shipping container placed on the central square of ’s‑Hertogenbosch in 2012. The installation brings together a digital video, ninety kilograms of red clothing with audio composed from existing sounds that evoke Chinese percussive traditions.
The choice for a shipping container is directly connected to the broader reality of human trafficking and the fatal journeys that have taken place within such units. In 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found dead in a sealed freight container after being transported across the Channel, a widely reported event that exposed the lethal conditions under which people are moved through global smuggling routes. This incident, and the systems that made it possible, form a crucial backdrop to the installation.
The video consists of digitally treated images of the Great Wall of China, sourced from photographs circulating online. Their red‑pink‑white tonality and fabric‑like surface resonate with the physical presence of the garments inside the container. The clothes are arranged as a sculptural field, activating the confined space and creating a tension between digital representation and material form.
The container, a structure tied to global logistics, labour exploitation and the trafficking of people, including the widely reported case in which 58 Chinese migrants were found dead in a sealed container in Dover in 2000, forms an essential part of the work. The installation brings this infrastructure into direct proximity with the everyday materials of Western consumption, exposing the gap between lived comfort and the human realities that underpin it. Within this setting, the garments, the video and the sound operate in relation to the mechanisms through which exploitation is organised and maintained across borders.
Presented during art festival Artibosch, at the foot of the cathedral of 's Hertogenbosch, 'Made in China' marks the starting point of the ’40 titles’ project , in which these dynamics continue to unfold across a series of installations.
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