Calling for Urban Diversity, Inclusiveness and “Coexistence”
Under the theme of Cities, Grow in Differences, three sections will be presented, namely Global South, Urban Village, and Art Making City The Global South section is curated by Liu Xiaodu, and Urban Village section by Meng Yan, while Zhu Ye acts as the co-curator for the aforesaid two sections on urbanism and architecture. The Art Making City section is curated by HouHanru and co-curated by curator and artist Yang Yong.
Global South offers the background, horizonand stancefor the overall theme of Cities, Grow in Differences. Based on the PRD region, it discusses the obsolete east-opposes-west model through the perspective of global experiences.“South” South sub-section curated by Li Xiangning and Pei Zhao presents the informal building models and the new urban strategy in the Latin America. The Other South sub-section curated by Feng Lu provides a comparative study on architectural typology and conducts analysis of geographical differences in culture and space for the two “South”–Jiangnan and Lingnan in China. This sub-section includes the work of architect Liu Jiakun, West Village • Basis Yard, a green basin for the city, as well as other South-themed works byarchitects Hua Li, Li Hu, ZhuangShen, Dong Gong, Liu Yichun and Chen Yifeng. The sub-section A Drifting PRD, curated by Feng Yuan and Fan Lin, employs contemporary art to discuss the unique history of the Pearl River Delta, including its history of immigration, the story of migration of Hakka and the associated social and cultural changes.
The Urban Village section with subtitle of “Hybridity and Coexistence” is the main themed exhibition of this year’s UABB. The narrative line focuses on urban villages, representing a unique urban reality in Shenzhen and the Pearl River Delta region. The exhibition responds to and interprets the theme of Cities, Grow in Differencefrom multiple perspectives, including historical research, in-depth observation, site-specific intervention, and future imagination. The “Urban Village Furniture Exchange Program” by Huang Heshan and Jiang Fan, authors of Wild Design, draw attention to the evolution of the social system in the urban villages. The Handshake 302 studio, co-founded by Shenzhen-based American anthropologist and artist Mary Ann O’Donnell will present an interactive game work “Path Breaking Shenzhen” to share her unique insights on architecture, planning and culture in Shenzhen. Brazilian architectural photographer Leonardo Finotti, Chinese-American photographer Mark Leong, Italian artists RUN and HITNES will all present their photographic and mural works in this section. A highlight in the Urban Village section is the practical interventions, including the “floating” lantern tailored by Nader Tehrani, the initiator of the parameter-based design, for the visitors to take a break at the plant square at UABB; the colorful WEGO installation by Dutch architecture team MVRDV + The Why Factory that will make a parable of the future urban life. The first UABB’s curatorChang Yung Ho will create an information pavilion outside the Nantou south gate to serve as the first stop of the exhibition. Besides, a special “Public Art & Performance” sub-section will gather leading figures in film, theatre, dance, and animation, including the Wang Hongwei and Wang Xiaoshuai, to present extraordinary artistic activities and programs to visitors and urban villagers alike.
This year UABB (Shenzhen) embarks on a new adventure, holding its first ever art-focused exhibition and opening new grounds in the art world as it unites artists and planners, architects, designers and urban researchers, for interdisciplinary collaboration. Art Making City, while presenting various critical researches on the issues of the street, home, public space and social production by artists from different parts of the world, explores unorthodox city-making approaches and their effects on the local reality.
