Zuzana-Markéta Macková


CV
Instagram
Sunfu wife, happy life 2022
Video essay 6 min., interactive environment, drink
In the setup at Centrale Fies, visitors walked into a dimly lit room with a spotlighted table holding 100 paper cups. Each cup bore the handwritten question, „Why, or rather how?“ and contained an odorless, beige liquid - a mix of peanut butter, citric acid, and water, mentioned later in the video. I designed the drink to be intentionally disgusting, but also to contain most of the basic nutrients the body needs to survive.

As visitors entered, the room was filled with a loud party song, YES by a well-known macho band, LMFAO. When the song faded, the video essay began, introducing Elisa, a character sharing her journey from a conventional dream of family life to embracing the extreme Sunfu lifestyle. This fictional regimen is presented as a means of optimizing oneself for raising successful kids in a hyper-productive society. Elisa practices strange breathing techniques, a strictly liquid diet, and wears DIY weighted gear.

The main narrative critiques how neoliberal self-improvement culture, as theorists like Silvia Federici and Sarah Ahmed have explored, frequently commodifies self-care and drives individuals toward extreme forms of self-regulation. In following these trends, the goal of “optimization” often becomes a path of isolation and sacrifice, where well-being and relationships are secondary to productivity.

2022 Exhibited at Centrale Fies (Dro, Italy)

video here

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