Launching Rongwr0ng (spelled with an ‘o’ then a zero ‘0’) in December 2024, the artist Shirt described “heading a first season” for the brand, and began gradually presenting new and upcycled clothing, accessories, objects, and functional items. The website rongwr0ng.com debuted alongside a photo series campaign on Instagram.com/rongwr0ng with the caption “I open a rongwr0ng store here.

”The imagery was accompanied by the text “What is a store?” that can be read below. Since launching, Rongwr0ng’s web and Instagram presence has been updated several times, with new items being presented ranging from free downloads of campaign images to $250 “conceptual bootleg” Denim Tears and Balenciaga tees.

The first official Rongwr0ng product made available for sale was a 1:1 reproduction of a backpack from the artist Pope.L’s 2019 MoMA exhibition member: Pope.L, 1978-2001. Further offerings have included a recycled cotton Duchamp logo tee, a double-layered used black thermal long sleeve and new white tee, hand-painted Barragán x Polo underwear, and secondhand America sweatshirts marked with ‘End Antisemitism Free Palestine’ painted on the chest. An ongoing series reworks authentic vintage SeaWorld hats by embroidering the word “Close” on the front in light blue, aiming to amplify calls for the park’s closure and for its resources redirected due to Seaworld’s exploitative breeding practices. The word ‘Rongdoing’ was printed under the Champion logo; tees were made that bootleg the ‘American Standard’ logo printed on toilet bowls; a program was announced in which certain items would be shipped to people free of charge to be used for a period of time, cleaned, and returned. One tee bootlegs a widely-released Jenny Holzer quote (itself a bootleg), another a never released Virgil Abloh graphic. Another embeds an actual box cutter and razor under tape adhered to the chest.

What is a store? Our brains ‘store’ information; our minds and bodies ‘store’ memory and how it feels. ‘Store’ doesn’t have to adhere to its capitalist definition— a store can be more than a place to sell stuff. I don’t mean breaking ground at these locations or erecting some additional build out ‘property’. I’m talking meeting a place where it is. What ideas could co-occupy the space for a time? How would I do it, how would a concept store here be materialized? The streets have always been ours, the first stores were just people dotting the landscape, recycled ideas and ephemera in tow. We encode our environment...is this not the same as people who tend their garden, plant seeds, and help the earth bear its fruit? You don’t even have to do anything. Try dying right there where you stand and not returning to the earth in some way shape or form, making fertile the very ground we walk on. No purchase necessary. To be alive is to store and share information. - S