Yin Xiuzhen

Portable City: Stuttgart, 2010

For her series Portable Cities, the artist Yin Xiuzhen designs abstract models of international metropolitan cities in a standardized suitcase format. She collects pieces of clothing from the depicted city in order to sew souvenir textile items that are shaped by her memories of the specific location. Based on typical buildings – local sites such as the main station (Hauptbahnhof), the Staatsgalerie, and the Mercedes-Benz Museum – the model contains in the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection can readily be recognized as Stuttgart. Out of brightly colored fabrics from Stuttgart residents, she sculpts a new and not necessarily coherent ensemble: an eclectic but at any rate striking miniature city that makes no pretense of being a to-scale reproduction. In spite of the souvenir potential and the dainty materials, this artwork series may also reveal certain implications that are critical (of consumerism). Painstakingly handmade from old items of clothing, these sculptures contrast directly with industrial mass-produced textiles, whose production in China often involves unacceptable working conditions. Additionally, Yin Xiuzhen archives sound: one hears the sounds of the great city rising out of the suitcase.