Various Artists.MABHTHVdS, Rana Plaza.i (detail), 2020
Rana Plaza is a sculpture remembering the 1134 casualties of a building collapse in Bangladesh in 2013. The accident confronted us with the harsh conditions people are working in and the extreme low wages to produce garments for the western clothing industries. Until today the minimum pay for a textile worker is € 0.35 an hour. A T-shirt (made in Bangladesh) can be bought at Primark for € 1.50.
“The 2013 Dhaka garment factory collapse was a structural failure that occurred on 24 April 2013 in Bangladesh, where an eight-story commercial building called Rana Plaza collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,134. Approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building alive. It is considered the deadliest structural failure accident in modern human history and the deadliest garment-factory disaster in history.”
Production
A T-shirt made in Bangladesh (Rana Plaza.i (0001), bought for € 1.50 at Primark Brussels) has 1134 pins sewn by hand into the fabric on the front and back. After sewing, the pins and fabric were chemically treated. The time needed for the handwork and treatment was recorded. For each hour that Various Artists worked on the piece, € 0.35 (the minimum wage of a clothing worker in Bangladesh) is added to the sales price of the work of art.
Sale
Inherently linked to the artwork is its online sale. To purchase the piece, the buyer must donate the (missing) added value generated to one of the charities suggested below (or one of your choice). The added value generated takes into consideration the working hours of a piece produced and remunerated at local Brussels' rates, where it was concluded.
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“Primark does not own any factories and is selective about the suppliers with whom we work. Every factory which manufactures product for Primark has to commit to meeting internationally recognised standards, before the first order is placed and throughout the time they work with us.”