Known for representing New Zealand at the 2015 Venice Biennale, Simon Denny has continued his focus on the economic implications of the images and technology that surround us and the consequences of their unavoidable presence—and has mounted an installation at OCAT Shenzhen. The show has received media attention for its fitting title, “Real Mass Entrepreneurship,” which chimes with what the city has grown to be known for in recent decades.

In the temporary C2 Space of Shenzhen’s OCT-LOFT, which is a warehouse that has been modified to host the Shenzhen Independent Animation Biennale, visitors are surrounded by many “found” objects related to entrepreneurship, such as two giant scaffolding-and-plasterboard stairs that flank the exhibition hall, and sculptures rented from the Window of the World theme park in the same city. In the center of the huge space, there were seven counters placed on top of illuminated plinths, each a fiberglass replica of the cheap countertop “shops” found in Huaqiangbei, a massive electronics market where one can find all manner of batteries, electronic accessories and cellphones. The mock-ups are painted by workers from Dafen village, a prime example of the decorative painting industry. (The village was initiated by a Hong Kong decorative painting merchant in the 1980s; he hired skilled workers to make replicas of famous canvases such as Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. More than 8,000 professional painting workers are now working in this area with an annual combined output worth hundreds of millions of dollars.) Above, a video projection explains the idea of the works, including interviews with entrepreneurs and artists, with news footage illustrating the recent economic boom of China.

Denny visited Window of the World, Huaqiangbei and Dafen, which all exemplify the entrepreneurial identity of Shenzhen. The artist enlisted the assistance of workers from Dafen to fine-tune the appearance of his props, including the application of color to the sculptures and airbrushing the photorealistic image of the fiberglass counter replicas. These objects appear awkward and strange—traits often found in cheap goods that are made in China—perhaps deliberately so. Some of the borrowed sculptures are copied from Hollywood movies (I presume their production involved trademark infringements), while the cheap counters “display” the latest models of mobile phones and all kinds of expensive electronic products, reminding the viewer that Shenzhen is frequently called the “factory of the world.”

Everything basically stops here. The industrial-looking space and the objects look the part of an edgy exhibition, and this precisely is the problem. “Real Mass Entrepreneurship” remains an outsider’s perspective of everyday life in Shenzhen, or even any industrial town in China. Indeed, the space may even be mistaken as a warehouse for the Window of the World theme park that is only a stroll away.

The video that is meant to bind together the entire installation also stands on precarious ground. It explains Shenzhen’s vibrant economy as the exhibition’s context; as a complement, it features interviews with several entrepreneurs and public officials. One of its misfires is an interview with Li Liao, a Shenzhen-based performance and installation artist who is known for his critique on consumer culture. It might make some speculate whether the installation was the work of Denny or Li.

One wonders: where was the “real” mass entrepreneurship? With Window of the World only a stroll away from OCAT Shenzhen, why not head to the real thing? After all, the theme park was built in the early 1990s, when mass entrepreneurship started in earnest in China.

Simon Denny’s “Real Mass Entrepreneurship” is on view at OCAT Shenzhen until June 15, 2017.

• New Zealand
• China