"Image Advertising", Shi Yong's interactive computer work in the exhibition "Cities on the Move", held in Vienna from Nov 26, 1997 to Jan 18, 1998. Shi asks viewers to vote on a hairstyle for him, to decide on his new image, which he will plaster on billboards around Shanghai like a body lotion advertisement. Shi's wry comment on the consumerism engulfing China comes from an idealism that Shi traces to the rigors of his intensive classical art training. He faults today's young artists for their self-indulgent focus on money. He too admits to wanting money, but at least he remembers the idealism of his youth.
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