Exhibition: Unmade in China

Although China is known for its incredible building production, with ‘a Chicago of skyscrapers’ being realized every year, a lot of architectural proposals never leave the drawing board or the model room. The Shanghai office of Cannon Design decided to dedicate an exhibition to this phenomena and dubbed it ‘Unmade in China‘. They selected ten Western offices to show their – unmade – work in the exhibition, and combined each project with interviews with the architect discussing the question why the projects were not realized. They asked us to write a prologue for the exhibition catalog.

The exhibition runs from 20 April to 20 June, 2012

Team:

Curators: Michael Tunkey, Lukasz Kos, Henrick Borjesson
Interviews: Lukasz Kos
Exhibition Design: Cannon Design
Graphic Design: Yasuo Kishibe
Prologue: Daan Roggeveen
Text editing: Martin Mevius
Communications: Hu Huifang (Cannon), Clarisse Stulp (The Attention Company)

Unmade in China – Introduction

Because the density of pure ice is about 920 kg/m³, and that of sea water about 1025 kg/m³, typically only one-ninth of the volume of an iceberg is above water. The shape of the underwater portion can be difficult to judge by looking at the portion above the surface.

From: Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, lemma ‘Iceberg’

Read the rest of this entry »

Allmetropolis: learning from China’s growth model

Starting Thursday 8 December, Go West Project will present a new research project during the Shenzhen/Hong Kong Biennale of Architecture. Central theme: What would happen if Europe created a Special Economic Zones following the Chinese model? To anwer that question, we compare two regions that started their urban growth at the end of the 1970s: one, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone in China, the other, the manmade island of Flevoland in the Netherlands.

Over the years, both urban regions have developed in a completely different manner. The New Towns in Flevoland has a population of 400,000, for large part commuters working in the Randstad and looking for a suburban living environment. Shenzhen, for its part, has grown into ‘the factory of the world’ with more than 10 million migrant workers from all over China.

In the exhibition Allmetropolis, Go West Project compares policy, economy, residential areas and future plans of the two regions. It then poses the question what would happen in Flevoland would implement China’s successful model for growth, meaning it would transform itself into a Special Economic Zone with preferential tax and other policies compared to the surrounding area.

This research project addresses consequences of current international developments where Europe is increasingly looking at China for financial help to solve the debt crisis. When Europe wants to attract Chinese investors, it’s not more than logical to have a close look at Chinese models for investment and growth.

Venue: B10, OCT, Nanshan, Shenzhen
Exhibition from 8 December 2011 – 18 February 2012

Go West in Shenzhen Biennale

The similarities between the Chinese city of Shenzhen and the Dutch Flevoland region with the city of Almere are stunning. Both areas started their urban development in the late 1970s: Shenzhen as a promising Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Almere as promising New Town on Flevoland, the world’s largest man-made island. Both are located in a river delta, adjacent to major international metropolises: Shenzhen near Hong Kong and Flevoland next to Amsterdam. In spite of these similarities, both urban areas developed in a completely different manner.

In the 2011 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Go West Project puts into perspective the economic, social, spatial and ecological developments of Shenzhen and Flevoland. This forms the starting point of a research that shows the possibilities and opportunities of using the Shenzhen model in a European context…

Book on show in Shanghai

After the exhibition in the Beijing International Book Fair in September, our book is now part of the Best Book Lounge exhibition in Shanghai. The exhibition shows a selection of Dutch books on art, architecture and design. The 120+ books on display show the oeuvre of renowned artists, designers and architects from the Netherlands, and present the best of Dutch book design. The exhibition is part of the Shanghai Creative Industry Week and takes place at Hong Fang (Red Town), 578 Huaihai Xi Lu, Shanghai, from 26/10 to 1/11.

Book launch and exhibition in London

Last Thursday, we launched How the City Moved to Mr Sun in The Gopher Hole Gallery in London during the London Design Festival. The book launch consisted of a presentation and a Q&A, and a small exhibition in the gallery.

Mr Sun at Beijing International Book Fair Exhibition

How the City Moved to Mr Sun – China’s New Megacities is  part of an exhibition of Dutch books on art, architecture and design, in the Dutch Pavilion at the Book Fair. The 120+ books on display show the oeuvre of renowned artists, designers and architects from the Netherlands, and present the best of Dutch book design.

Chengdu Biennale trip

Christoph Kapeller (USC), Paul Tang, Liu Yuyang (Biennale), Vivian Song (Go West) visit Dongcun village

This fall, Go West will participate in the Chengdu Biennale, as part of the research program of this years Biennale. Our contribution will investigate cultural life in Chinese cities, both in an exhibition, and in an event. Last week we made a trip to Chengdu as part of the preparation; we visited potential venues, talked with people in the cultural field and participated in a two day conference with field trips, organized by the Biennale.

Daan and Vivian lecture at Chengdu Architecture department

Dinner with curator Xu Sheng (Re-C Gallery), Zou Peng and Zhou Weijia (Chengdu Gongbo Culture Communication Group)

Finissage Chinese Triptych: a movie night

This is the last week you can come and visit our exhibition at Casla, Almere. This Wednesday, June 15 Casla and INTI organize a finissage  with a movie night where they show the documentary Urbanisation in China: happiness is seen everywhere. More information at the website of INTI.

Opening Chinese Triptych

Last month, the exhibition about Chinese newtowns opened in CASLA, Almere. Read a review in Dutch at the website of ‘de Architect’, a review in Chinese at the website of RNW.

Chinese urbanism in Holland

Go West was invited by the International New Town Institute and CASLA to do an exhibition about our work in Almere. Together with research offices Dynamic City Foundation and Urban Language we will present an overview on urbanisation called Chinese Triptych.

The exhibition will open with debate between Neville Mars, Harry den Hartog and Daan Roggeveen, hosted by Michelle Provoost, director of INTI.

Date: 8 April, 16h. Address: CASLA, Weerwaterplein 3, Almere NL.

Booklet with taxi trips

In the exhibition 100 Days of Stories taxi drivers from all over China came to Shenzhen with their taxi. Along the way, they photographed their trips, leading to 6 intriguing photo series about the vast heart of China. We put together an excerpt of these photo series in an small booklet, creating a cross section of the country. Some more impressions here:

Calling London

Beijing/London based photography duo WassinkLundgren made a beautiful photo series about our red phone in the London exhibition ‘About a Minute’.

photography: WassinkLundgren

Abitare on The Gopher Hole / About a Minute

A new gallery opens in London. Behind the project, aberrant architecture and Beatrice Galilee, the young critic and curator of architecture, that after having worked for the last Shenzhen biennale is involved in the next design biennale in Gwangyu (2011).

In the past she has written for Abitare. Here a PDF of her essay on landscape architecture, from Abitare 490. The first show sounds very stimulating, we wait to receive the feedback from the audience.

The Gopher Hole is proud to invite you to the opening of its inaugural exhibition:

‘About a Minute’
9th December, 7pm-late
350-354 Old Street, EC1V 9NQ
rsvp@holygopher.com

The Gopher Hole is a new project space in Hoxton co-founded by aberrant architecture & Beatrice Galilee.   Our aim is to explore new ways of curating ideas in contemporary culture and to provide a forum for sharp, critical debate on the arts and society.   We hope to provide an open house for ideas that cross cultural boundaries, promote political and sociological thinking and encourage debate and exchange between disciplines.

For our first exhibition, About a Minute, we have invited 15 conceptual artists, architects, designers, poets and writers to interpret a minute.  Each work in this show was  chosen for its thoughtful, provocative or playful response to the time through various mediums and orders. This plurality is key to the curatorial philosophy of the Gopher Hole: interrogating popular culture across disciplinary borders.

With best wishes

The Gopher Hole (aberrant architecture & Beatrice Galilee)

The Gopher Hole
350-354 Old Street
EC1V 9NQ
www.holygopher.com

Participants:

Rachel Armstrong is a science fiction writer, TED senior fellow and pioneer of living architecture.
www.rachelarmstrong.me

Shumon Basar is a writer

Diane Cochrane was a co-founder of Urban Salon Architects and is a course leader at London Metropolitan university.

Economy is a Swedish-Australian platform working working in architecture, art, education and management.
www.this-is-economy.com

Glowacka Rennie & Robin Dutson is an architect-artist collaboration based in London.
www.glowacka-rennie.com

The Go West Project is a crossover research project between architecture and journalism that studies new metropolises in Central and Western China.
www.gowestproject.com

Elaine W. Ho works in the realms of art, urban practice and design.
www.iwishicoulddescribeittoyoubetter.ne

Sam Jacob is a director of FAT, a critic and teaches at the AA and Yale.
www.strangeharvest.com

Christian Kerrigan is a digital artist based in London.
www.christiankerrigan.com

Pedro Gadhano is an architect, curator and writer based in Lisbon.
shrapnelcontemporary.wordpress.com

Ralf Pflugfelder is an artist interested in the spatial aesthetics of narratives and utopias.
www.noffice.eu

Postworks is a design collective working across the fields of art, architecture and performance.

Jon Stone is a poet, and co-editor of arts journal Fuselit and publishers Sidekick Books.
www.drfulminare.com

Sunday Collective is platform for explorative, cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Luke Wright is a poet and a poet-in residence on Radio 4’s Saturday Live.
www.lukewright.co.uk

via: http://www.abitare.it/events/the-gopher-hole/

Go West Connects Chinese cities to London

The Go West Project asked young people from eight cities in central and Western China to make regular calls to a red phone in the Gopher Hole gallery in Hoxton, London as part of the group exhibition ‘About a Minute’.

The calls will connect gallery visitors in one of the most vibrant metropolises of today to inhabitants of the most vibrant metropolises of tomorrow. In short conversations people in London can find out how much their life differs from, or maybe resembles to, that of citizens in Yinchuan, Wuhan or Shijiazhuang. They only have one minute. What will they talk about? Do they feel a connection? Is one minute enough to change their ideas about a Chinese megacity?

We hope you can visit and pick up the phone in London!

‘About a Minute’
Opening: 9th December, 7pm-late
On show until: 13 February 2011

The Gopher Hole
350-354 Old Street, London
rsvp@holygopher.com
www.holygopher.com