SWEET GREEN
Chinatown Soup is pleased to present sweet green, a series of interventions by Soup Studio resident Alexander Si. This experience includes simulations of the stylish decor and branding of a fast-casual salad chain, inviting visitors to examine how they inhabit contemporary zones of wellness™️.
Curator Sophia Ma notes, "Like bees dancing for pollen or ants carrying grain, the commodification of wellness hooks people into the chase for happiness and tethers them to mindless repetition sold as mindfulness." When we fail to meet these pre-packaged expectations, how often do we blame ourselves for not feeling better rather than the system that insists on self-improvement? Are you part of the pattern?
sweet green is on view at Soup Gallery from July 12-24, 2022. Please join us for an opening performance on Thursday, July 14th at 7pm.
This project was supported, in part, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
Next, Si plans to tackle Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle and wellness brand, Goop. In the meantime, he already has two solo exhibitions scheduled for later this year in New York, where he is based. This coming July, Si will debut an immersive installation at Chinatown Soup exploring Sweetgreen’s role in optimizing the lives of white-collar corporate workers and athleisure enthusiasts. And at Ki Smith Gallery in October, his show of sculptures titled “Videodrome,” inspired by the 1983 David Cronenberg sci-fi movie of the same name, will speculate on the horrific ways our bodies may morph due to our reliance on technology. Throughout, Si’s deft examinations of recent trends in popular culture portray the dystopic qualities of the present.
—Harley Wong for Art in America (May 2022)
Si’s total installation features sg_Seating Area–the signature wide dark-wood seating area complete with plant life, sg_Pick Up Shelves–the steel and wood takeout pick up area, sg_Plaque–the outdoor logo with seating and coasters, and sg_Core Values–the company’s laser cut “core values'' text on a varnished pine plaque. In addition to these components, sg_Cheers, a 20-minute performance, is also inaugurated at the opening reception.
The sculptural replicas display the fixed elements of the business’s stagecraft that stand in for the more ephemeral portions of the exchange. sg_Seating Area and sg_Plaque are modern backdrops that help a person feel cool and trendy in the restaurant, which masks capitalism’s push to live briefly and work endlessly. Egged on by the chic setting, patrons efficiently eat with one hand while busily reading the latest email from work or absorbing more media. This optimization of one’s time is made possible through the digital processing of one’s food. Being immersed in the wellness branding, one can believe that they are fulfilling their bodies and their spirits by eating salads.
Each component deploys different subliminal messaging for its audience. In this way, Si counters and foregrounds the communication to invite new readings of text and signage: are the values expressed by the company for the betterment of humanity or their IPO?
sweet green not only replicates an environment, but also subtly examines the people inhabiting its space. The project questions the self on myriad levels of operation and how each individual is affected. In sg_Seating Area, there’s footage of the blur of clientele in yoga tights and smart suits swimming through the maximized flow of the salad bar, like wild salmon retreading their familiar path without realizing they are leaping toward their end. In the same clips, the almost-invisible limbs of the staff work quickly to serve the endless stream.
Despite its attempt to maintain energy and sustain high spirits for an otherwise repetitious day, sg_Cheers demonstrates how pretense ultimately drains a workforce of color. Anonymous upper management and marketers masterminding the puppetry are notably absent.
These tactics are not limited to a single franchise. The capitalist world is full of incentivized relationships, a constant race toward speed and perfection. Like bees dancing for pollen or ants carrying grain, the commodification of wellness hooks people into the chase for happiness and tethers them to mindless repetition sold as mindfulness. When people fail to meet the expected greatness, capitalism is not an entity that can be blamed. So the fault lies with the self and the cycle to improve begins again. Can you see the pattern?
—Sophia Ma