Polit-Sheer-Form Office (PSFO) is a China-based art collective founded in 2005 by Hong Hao, Xiao Yu, Song Dong, Liu Jianhua, and Leng Lin. The group formed with the abstract purpose of seeking "collective form." PSFO is concerned with the idea of 'we' in a 'me' world and presents a new Socialist order for the 21st century within a society that has moved away from collective ideals. A humorous edge underlies their work—the name of the group itself "Polit-Sheer-Form Office" (translated literally, the "office of pure political form") is meant to sound like an absurd government bureau.

The Guangdong Times Museum invites PSFO to do a public performance to examine the idea of individualism and the Collective in both China and the U.S. This performance will take place in Guangzhou, China and New York and will be represented in the exhibition through video documentation. The performance involves the participation of a group of people in a repetitious cleaning effort of two public spaces, one in Guangzhou and one in New York City. The goal of the project is to test in different social contexts, China and the U.S., whether collectivism is a real social need or just a false form and in fact a management tool. In China, "doing good deeds" can often turn into a kind of mass movement while in American culture, individualism is a core value. Yet a new understanding of the need for the collective has emerged. Similarly, while collectivism has been a core Chinese value, there has been increasing interest in individual pursuits. Is "doing a good deed" human nature's need or a need for ideology? What is the real content and meaning for collectivism (or collective organization)?

After a presentation at the Guangdong Times Museum in Guangzhou, China, Do the same good deed will travel to New York, where an exhibition and performance will take place with the Queens Museum and Times Square Arts.The exhibition is jointly organized by the Guangdong Times Museum (China) and the Queens Museum (USA) and is curated by Ruijun Shen.

*image (left)
Polit-Sheer-Form Office,
"Do the same good deed" (still), 2014. Video.
Courtesy of Polit-Sheer-Form Office.