January 24, 2013

iPad and Foxconn uniforms get respectable positions at Beijing Museum

by Gareth Mankoo

It’s no doubt that the iPad and Foxconn dare of challenging gizmo design and conquering new territory in the device front, has paid of well. Now, it’s time to honor those who put it all together. Just what the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing, China, plans to do. This triggered off when an young Chinese artist cum Apple consumer landed himself an assembly-line job at the Shenzhen Foxconn branch, in the production of iPads. He did accrue the funds to go and buy one of the devices himself. As an exhibit, he went on to put the iPad on a pedestal, hung up his uniform and badges, and framed his contract document on a white gallery wall, which is now the center-stage in the museum.


Here’s what the Chinese artist spoke to the media:
“I initially thought that it would be very hard to get a job, but, in fact, it was easy. I simply applied and passed the physical exam and the face-to-face interview. They had almost no requirements at all …”
“You stay in the factory twelve hours a day—ten hours in the workshop, two hours for lunch and dinner. The work was repetitive and boring …”
“Your relationship with your bosses is just about work. If we see each other outside the factory, without our uniforms, we probably wouldn’t recognize each other …”
“The living environment is about on par with one of your worse university dorm rooms …”
“Many of the products in this world actually have nothing to do with the workers who made them. To most of the workers there, Apple was just a name, a logo …”
“Foxconn didn’t know I was making art. I don’t have anything to say to them. I will never go back to the factory to work …”

[Mic-Gadget]