LESLIE MOQUIN

 

Shanghai Cosmetic

 

One could say about Shanghai that it stands as an emblem of a transaesthetic world, of a hyperindividualist society. Aesthetic phenomena seem there to merge fully with production, marketing and communication devices. Images of happiness, beauty, and blossoming nature are exhibited in abundance on the screens all over the subway tunnels, on the facades of buildings and on tablets and smartphones that everybody possesses.

However, far from these images which saturate everyday life, existence seem actually focused on competition, efficiency, mobility, speed and performance. Shanghai then appears to be the figurehead of a false, artificial world with sham standards.

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