The theme of MondayOFF Issue#2 is Medical Cosmetology, which explores what beauty is from the contemporary perspective of “becoming beautiful” with an anthropological eye. We start from the following questions - Is there such a thing as standard beauty? Could we understand that medical cosmetology is a sign that beauty is becoming more of a medical element, evolving beyond its traditional definition, and the two-dimensional discussions about it? Are artists still the creators of beauty, or has this right been given to the invisible hands? Our cities are permeated with countless plastic surgery advertisements and social-influencer-driven economy, #MedicalCosmetology also investigates the drive for city girls’ happy yet painful pursuit of beauty, the undercurrents of the awakening of feminism, and consumer-driven economy based on our looks. Together with us, you can raise questions towards the human flesh, those who live in the filters, under the 3D scans, and those who receive diagnosis from AI doctors. In a way, aesthetics is breaking free from a hierarchy. Face, which was regarded as a single sign of our individual uniqueness is now fading away. We are becoming a constantly changing and beautifying community.
Welcome to this world of aesthetics brought to you by MondayOFF, where it is filled with flexibilities, colors, transformations, alienations, and resilience.
Curation & Editorial Concept
Milia Xin BI, Ye Funa
Art Direction & Design
Funa&Milia, XI Ruolan (Una) & Marco Dalle Fratte
3D Illustrations
LI Hanwei, WJX
Translation & Proofreading
megakira✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜ ✧ , קולו, Sujie Zhu
Contributors
AI Minwen, Milia Xin BI, FU Jingjing, HAN Xiao, Enke HUANG, JIANG Yuhui, LISHAN, LU Pingyuan, PEI Li, WANG Buke, XU Qianwen, Yoko YANG, YE Funa, ZHANG Defeng, Peihan Peony ZHENG
Weight per copy: 325.5g (2booklets, 1mask poster)
Bookbinding: perfect binding(booklet1), saddle stitch+accordion fold(booklet2), die cutting(mask poster)
Total number of pages: 144pages (2 booklets)
Dimensions: 110×280mm
City published: Beijing/Shanghai
ISBN: 978-1-80049-128-1
Monday OFF, founded by curator BI Xin and artist YE Funa, is a creative brand focusing on the self-publication of zines and artist’s books, as well as the organization of themed exhibitions, workshops, and lectures under their sub-brand Mondayitis. In original, curated publications, Monday OFF highlights the ever-changing boundaries of urban society, juggling the popular yet mundane, the relaxed and the anxiety stricken, our cities’ fringe issues and the public’s consensus. Monday OFF is a zoom lens into our rapidly evolving youth culture. The publication consists of: 40% visual creation, 50% text, and 10% advertisement – the ads being a montage of both the real… and the spoof. Goodbye Blue Monday – it’s a day OFF. Monday OFF. A day served bittersweet.
And so we hope this publication leaves our audience smiling, in lasting reprieve, a lucid daydream to distant lands through better times, to any place other than – your Blue Monday.
