Beijing Insertions
During a residency in Beijing, China, I worked with counterfeit brand-name items for which China is infamous. I bought a collection of fake designer clothing from a grey-market shopping centre (Yashow), famous for its knock-off goods.
I then visited the actual upscale boutiques and placed my fake items on the shelves and racks amongst legitimate items, leaving them to be either incorporated into circulation or discovered. For example, I left a coat labeled "giorgio armani" in an actual Armani boutique on a rack of coats for sale.
Although the majority of global brand-name manufacture occurs in China, the mark-up of the labels makes these products unaffordable for the Chinese market. The primary market for these knock-offs is the local Chinese. In this insertion, the marginalized or unofficial is juxtaposed with the exclusive context of the designer brands.
