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)

Shanghai Urban Landscapes

Last week we reported on the different urban landscapes we encountered while traveling from Hong Kong to Wuhan. When taking the plane from Wuhan to Shanghai, you  experience more or less the same contrasts, while landing at Hongqiao Airport – a fragmented landscape of industry, golf courses, villas, high rises, empty lands and residential areas. Welcome to the City of Fragmentation.

7 November: lecture HKU, Shanghai

As part of the lecture series ‘Under the Skin’ we will present our book in the University of Hong Kong, Shanghai Study Centre on November 7.

In a lecture called Canary Wharf in Central China – The transformation of China’s New Megacities, we will discuss the way cities prepare for the transformation from industry-based economy to services based economy. To prepare for this change, cities in central and western China are all developing CBD’s (Central Business Districts).

In Wuhan we investigated how these CBD’s come into being and what are the processes and reasons behind its development. We describe the way urban development is used as a tool to attract foreign direct investment – the city as an economic powerhouse – and the struggle between cities to be as attractive as possible. Consultants like McKinsey play a key role in this development, as do planning departments of local governments.

As we describe in our book:

‘The strength of Chinese cities lies to a large degree in projecting of an image of success before anything has actually been achieved. You constantly feel yourself surrounded by the future, by virtual skylines or by completed buildings, ready for future use. Together, these form a futuristic and hope-inspiring décor.’

At the same time we show that this process is part of the transformation of Chinese cities into more or less generic cities – with architecture produced by firms like SOM, HOK and Gensler leading to skylines that are alike the world over.

‘The first designs of the large towers evoke the feeling you have seen them somewhere before, in another business district in a different large town, in Asia or somewhere else on the planet.’

Date: 7 November, 7.30pm
Venue: University of Hong Kong, Shanghai Study Centre,
Adress: No. 298 North Suzhou Road, 2nd Floor, Hongkou District
Entry: Free

Our book will be for sale after the lecture for 300 RMB; cash payment only.

Launching the book in Shanghai

Last Sunday, 16 October we launched our book in Shanghai’s Glamour Bar. After an introduction by the Consul General of the Netherlands, mr Peter Potman, we shared stories and ideas with an audience of over 100 people. Presenting the book in our hometown Shanghai was the last in a series of presentations in Europe and China. It was also quite an experience: could we tell an audience of both Chinese and foreigners living in China something they did not know yet? Judging on the reactions afterwards, we think we managed to give the audience some insight in our work, our ideas, our trips and our book.

Photography: Frans Schellekens

Shanghai Book launch in Glamour Bar

On Sunday 16 October, architect Daan Roggeveen and China correspondent Michiel Hulshof will present their new book How the City Moved to Mr Sun – China’s New Megacities. They will share their stories and pictures from developing Chinese megacities like Wuhan (10 million inhabitants), Shijiazhuang (9 million) and Chongqing (33 million), that are transforming at breakneck pace into the big brothers and sisters of global cities like Sao Paolo, London and Moscow. Here, China is constructing the biggest urban society the world has ever seen.

Venue : Glamour Bar
Address : 6/F, No.5 The Bund (corner of Guangdong Lu), Shanghai
Time : 4pm
Entry : RMB 75 (includes a drink), students RMB 20

Sunday 6 March, 11AM, Go West lecture at Glamour Bar Shanghai

This weekend, we will read from our book for the first time in our hometown Shanghai. Sunday, 11AM, we will be part of the Shanghai Literary Festival, where we will read and show images about an empty business center, villagers that build skyscrapers and how to buy an apartment on a rainy morning. You’re all more than welcome at the Glamour Bar. Tickets can be purchased online.
Address: 6/F, No.5 The Bund, Shanghai. Tickets 10 RMB (children, students) /65 RMB, one drink included.

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It’s Biennale!

Luo Fahui, Chengdu, October 2010

Every city has one these days: a Biennale. After the ferriswheel it is probably the most attractive attribute to put your city on the map with. This month, the Shanghai Biennale opened.

Its first edition, in 1996, was the great breakthrough for Luo Fahui, an artist from the city of Chengdu who we visited and interviewed last month. Luo is now an internationally known artist, with shows from Hong Kong to Amsterdam. His work is  not in the Shanghai Biennale anymore. ‘Now it’s time for others.’

Question is what this years Biennale will bring forward. The curatorial team, who are all Chinese, seem to turn this edition into a sort of redefinition momentum. Gao Shiming, executive curator and professor at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou:

“We decided for 2010, this would be the perfect time and opportunity to ask, what is the Chinese opinion on contemporary art?”

Quite a question to start the curating of an art show with.

Read the whole about the Shanghai Biennale here: Reassessing the Shanghai Biennale – NYTimes.com.

Art districts and River Crab

picture Corneliu Cazacu

A lot of the cities we visit have a so called ‘art district’. These places basically consist of abandoned factories where artists have created their studio’s. Chinese cities are stimulating these kind of places as an attempt to create ‘creative cities’, cities where the arts flourish and contribute to the GDP.
Typically is that the attitude from the Chinese government towards art has changed overtime from ignorant in the early ’80′s to supportive since around 2005. The reason for this change is as predictable as simple: money. Chinese artists and the products they make have gained worldwide attention, not in the least in auction houses like Sotheby’s and Christie’s where Chinese art prices go through the roof since the start of the new millennium. And they’re still going strong. Read the rest of this entry »