On May 11, 2025, following more than a month of the so-called “gold-panning fever,” artist Yang Yexin sealed the remaining small quantity of gold rice together with ordinary rice into 2,000 art jars, preserving and safeguarding them as completed works. These grains of rice—once searched through, trampled, scattered, and handled—together with the sweat, tears, and words exchanged during this period, were transformed into enduring artistic witnesses. The price of the rice jars began at 100 RMB, with the final jar reaching 350,000 RMB. Through the circulation of these rice jars within the market, the artist seeks to observe and testify to a proposition: that the market value of ordinary rice can stand in an equal and relational position to that of gold.
