The installation presents an replica of a balcony of staff dormitory from a “third tier” factory last century. With cages, henhouses, flower shelves and bird feeders, all arranged in perfect order for poultry raise and plant cultivation, it is a family-based mini farm which makes self-sufficient urban lives possible. SHI Qing commented that "Farm is inspired by urban experience in China during the era of planned economy. Balcony, an architectural product of modern cities, remains as a private space where agricultural tradition and modern living experiences battle with each other. Bearing appearance of packing case, the work implies awkward position of contemporary China being freight yard of imported social and economic models, as well as sensitiveness to and vigilance against impacts from Western socioeconomic systems. While revealing the relationship between Western modernity as modifier and China as being modified, the artist raises an even more critical question: from which angle should we judge and verify our own value system or the possibility of system output? It is a moment when global economy finds itself confronted with crisis and it is also precisely the moment when we should pause, reflect and recommence. "
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