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Pink Slime Caesar Shift

Forum Expanded Exhibition 2018
© Jen Liu
Pink Slime Caesar Shift presents four proposals to alter the DNA of mass-produced in-vitro hamburgers to carry messages of labor insurrection on behalf of Special Economic Zone (SEZ) factory workers in China.
In the last decade, labor protests have increased in China, but they remain brief and localized due to the government’s clampdown on social media and the subsequent inability to communicate across distances. Meanwhile, China’s resource capacity has been maxed out, and shortages of beef – resulting in counterfeit beef scandals and imbalanced international trade deals – have become common.
If the solution to meat shortages is the production of stem cell originated synthetic meat, its workflow may also be used to create channels of communication for political organization – through altering the meat’s DNA as data messenger. Four alteration methods correspond with the four sections of the video, while also speaking to various aspects of life for SEZ workers today.
With a combination of live action and 3D animation, the video integrates multiple worker education documents, cut with scientific equipment sales pitches, documentary recordings, and poems on intimate estrangement.
by Jen Liu
with Mini Zhang, Ziyi Li, Ingrid Zhang, Kathy Cho, Shoko Fujita, Nina Ki, Soo A Kim, Fredi Lumyi, Corey Tazmania USA 2016 English, Mandarin 24’ Colour

With

  • Mini Zhang (bionaut)
  • Ziyi Li (worker)
  • Ingrid Zhang (worker)
  • Kathy Cho (SWZ-Jägerin)
  • Shoko Fujita (SWZ-Jägerin)
  • Nina Ki (SWZ-Jägerin)
  • Soo A Kim (SWZ-Jägerin)
  • Fredi Lumyi (SWZ-Jägerin)
  • Corey Tazmania (voice)

Crew

Written and Directed by Jen Liu
Cinematography Daisy Zhou
Editing Jen Liu
Music Jen Liu
Sound Design Jen Liu
Sound Sam Richardson
Production Design Jen Liu
Costumes Jen Liu
Make-Up Jen Liu
Casting Jen Liu
Producer Jen Liu

Produced by

Jen Liu

http://jenliu.info http://jenliu.info

Jen Liu

Jen Liu, born in 1976 in Smithtown, USA, is a New York-based visual artist working in video, performance, and painting, on topics of national identity, economy, and the re-motivating of archival artifacts. The question of gender’s intersection with cultural constructions and racial anxieties are revealed in economic and industrial language, as well as props and costumes that take tropes to their humorous extreme. She received a BA in Creative Writing at Oberlin College and a MFA in Fine Arts and Integrated Media at California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California. Her work has been shown internationally in solo and group exhibitions. She has also received multiple grants and residencies.

Filmography

2003 Dawn of the Alpha Genesis 2004 2304 Is a Beer Drinking Year 2005 Soldiers of Light 2006 Comfortably Numb 2007 Iron Man 2008 New Dawn Fades 2010 The Shape of Things to Come 2011 Six Colorful Tales: From the Emotional Spectrum (Women) · Naked Mayonnaise the Stranger · Skylab Solar Anus Repair 2012 Bottoms · D.D. In The Year 0000 · BBBitches! 2013 Safety First (Bad, Don’t Touch, Mercy!) 2014 The Machinist’s Lament 2015 The Pink Detachment 2018 Pink Slime Caesar Shift

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018