The case study would be: Al Weiwels sunflower seeds installation at the Tate modem, that took more than 1,600 artisans in Jingdezhen, China (the town that once made the imperial porcelain for over a thousand years), two and a half years to manufacture; 150 tons of small pieces of ceramics resembling real sunflower seeds. The paper would conclude raising questions about labour in the arts and the benefits (uneven economies, cheap labour, personal promotion as activist..) of this kind of artistic practices, but also show (even if temporarily) the importance of such projects in the communities involved.