And then came along the Homeshop...

HomeShop is an artist initiative which began in Beijing in 2008. It is located in the centre of city on one of its old hutong alleyways, with the space and its window front utilised for points of interaction and exchange. The style and ethos of the space creates a new environment for blurring boundaries between the public and the private.

Homeshop consider themselves a space where 'artists, designers and thinkers come together via multiple, interwoven series of small-scale activities, interventions and documentary gestures, processes by which HomeShop serves as an open platform to question existing models of economic and artistic production. Daily life, work and the community become explorations of micropolitical possibility, and of working together'.

One of the many projects they have been working on is to support a local initiative - 'Country Fair'. The project is essentially a group of volunteers in Beijing who have created a farmers market to support sustainable agriculture and rural-urban mutual aid. Through the market the group were able to create a platform for exchange and education about buying safe and healthy local produce. The project has been running since 2010, and when I met with one of the members of Homeshop, she highlighted the projects success as a sustainable initiative. The reason for this being that once the artists/ volunteers had stepped back from the project, the farmers market was able to continue off its own back and with the full support of local farmers and consumers. To hear this, for me, was the true beauty and indeed legacy of such a project.


For more information about Homeshop and the Country Fair project check out the links - well worth a read!


Liz

Ying (Chinese Arts Centre's Curator) and Sally (Our CEO) at Homeshop with founder Elaine .W. Ho