Empty bottles line up the shelves at "Xuzhen Supermarket" in Shanghai on April 13, 2016. A view of "Xuzhen Supermarket," an art installation that highlights the emptiness of mass consumption, on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai, on April 13, 2016. Customers check "products" at "Xuzhen Supermarket" in Shanghai on April 13, 2016. Local media reported that the supermarket was seeing daily sales of hundreds of yuan. A customer takes a photo of a "product" at "Xuzhen Supermarket" on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai, on April 13, 2016. It looks like any other supermarket, but there's nothing but emptiness. A customer waits to pay for some empty containers she bought at "Xuzhen Supermarket" on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai, on April 13, 2016.
Imagine going to a supermarket but instead of packed shelves all you see is empty cans and bottles.
This is exactly what artist Xu Zhen has done. To highlight the emptiness of mass consumption, he opened his first "supermarket" in an art gallery in 2007. It was filled with nothing but empty bottles, cans and boxes.
Now he has taken his "supermarket" out of galleries and art fairs to a street in Shanghai.
After buying the products from markets, the employees empty the bottles, cans and boxes using special technology.
Xu said his aim with the supermarket is to break the barriers between art and business and spark a discussion on the impact of money on society.
Credit: China Daily
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