Sub-curator：FENG Yuan, FAN Lin
When we look at Shenzhen or the urbanization process represented by it today, do not forget that this place has been the main connection point between China and the rest of the world since 19th or even the 18th century. From a broader historic perspective, there are many historical results that cannot be ignored in the Pearl River Delta.
The process of change and evolution in Lingnan, Hakka and Pearl River Delta is a process of drifting in a more accurate sense. Formed by various immigration and relocation operations, this area has been serving as the junction of the oriental world which centers on Beijing and the western world for 300 years. For this reason, we define the Pearl River Delta region as the South on the one hand. However, we also need to see it as the junction of the further South and the South on the other hand. The discussion of the Pearl River Delta region in this sector has focused on drifts and changes, or “drifting,” which is a process similar to the evolution of genes in one species in different environments. Such drift is not biological, but sociological.
The section places the theme in the 19th and 20th centuries in response to the judgment of “modernity of difference”. The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are the key moments in pulling China and the outside world. The exhibition discusses a series of important historical phenomena that have taken place in the Pearl River Delta since the 19th century. Most projects in the exhibition are related to artistic methods, discussing the unique history of the Pearl River Delta by means of contemporary art, including the history of immigrants, the relocation of Hakka, the Pearl River water system and course of modernization, the rise of cities and buildings, and associated social cultural changes.
The artworks are completed by integrating art and history as well as social studies and anthropology approaches by means of installation, video, interactive design and multimedia, hence the “Collection of Lingnan Fables” that reflects the social drift in the Pearl River Delta.
