(abitare) i am dafen lisa

7/27/2019 (Abitare) I Am Dafen Lisa

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architecture

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Im Dafen Lisa: Architecture and Narratology

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te archiecure

Shenzhen, Fronier or China Dreams, curaed by he Shenzhen-based archiecure pracice Urbanus, sands as par o he Urban BesPracice Area program in he Shanghai World Expo. Is shelled wihwo oher pavilions in a one big space: i is a pavilion wihin a pavilion.Te plo is long and slender, he archiec insalled a ully-enclosedcube. Te ron acade, measuring 30m in lengh and 9m in heigh, is a

giganic Mona Lisa paining laid horizonally. As he sory goes, heMona Lisa paining was produced in Daen village in suburbanShenzhen by a housand painers simulaneously. Famous or heirassembly line producion, each o he Daen village painers nisheda ew squares o he original paining. From here he whole painingwas assembled. Daens oil paining expors ake up abou hal heworlds marke share, and Daen represens only one o he manydreams o he 30 year old Shenzhen coming rue.A he World Expo, he Shenzh en pavilion employs a narraive acic.

Guess rs come across he Mona Lisa (ondly nicknamed DaenLisa ), he mos obvious and ulimae maniesaion o Daen. Teguess hen make heir way hrough a series o narrow walkways andcramped rooms ha simulaes he consraining eeling Daensurban village opography imposes. Tere, audiences learn abouDaens hisory, he ypical oil producion workfow, and even meehe wo head-machos o conrasing characerisics in he making oDaen.Finally, guess descend down a figh o sairs and ener ino a deepopen heaer space. A heaer wih no sage, bu everywhere as is

sage. A projeced illusion on he grand sairs gives he impression hawaer is sreaming down. From he walls, hroughou he space,atendees will be presened wih video porrayals o Shenzhen and ispeople. Audiences are invied o linger on he sage and exend heirconsciousness in he space.

te narraive

Te quesion is, Will he archiec-curaed pavilion urn is ownarchiecure ino he one and only piece o arwork? Like a novel,archiecure occupies he audiences spaial and emporal experience.o wha exen can he archiecural narraive and he exhibiionnarraive converge and reinorce one anoher?Narraive engages double emporal sequences. Tus, one may regarda given narraive as projecing a cerain rame o ime ino anoher.While he running ime o exhibis are pred eermined and audiencesake a linear pah, here are a myarid o sories and emporal spacesha evolves or any audience.Tis is he narraive line o he exhibiion.Wandering abou heShenzhen pavilion, as aeliers, signs, aces and sound come in

symphonies and variaions, he audience becomes a fneur in aWaler Benjamin sense.Te crowd is he veil hrough which he amiliar ciy beckons o hefneur as phanasmagoria--now a landscape, now a room.(Benjamin)

/ textbyUmi

/ photosbyMeng Yan


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In ligh o consan realiies, he fneur holds no preconcepions,ree o capure figh o eeling and hough.Injeced ino he exhibiion, he fneurship makes or sponaneousexuberance, jus as one would expec rom a sree. Dramaic setingposiions he audience ino a looking and being-looked ineracion.Being a a place wih oher people is essenially dramaic. Te oherpeople become par o he subjec, and I become par o he oher

people. Te audience in urn nds heir own inerpreaion as par ohe mega narraive.When he audience urns heir ineres rom wha is being narraed ohe ac o narraion isel, rom wha is spoken o how o speak, imarks he saring poin o a real ineracion. Te momen ha oneatemps o measure his, he oher narraive -- he spaial narraive --comes ino he limeligh.When he exhibi narraive eners he design proce ss, how much iinfuences he archiecs choice is criical o he archiecuralnarraive. Oherwise, heres no need or he archiec worry abou

reconciling he exhibi and archiecural narraive. . Somehow, onends he archiecural narraive enveloped in he exhibiion wih heexerior and inerior alike. Tis suggess a myserious qualiy in spaceo he exen one doesn eel he space. Ohers may argue ha hearchiecure has wrapped up he exhibiion, shaping he experience asdiving hrough a series o vacuum walled by he concree archiecure.Whaever he case, his seems o be he sar o a healhy discussio non orm and conen.Sill, i here were anyhing else comparable beween space and

narraive, i would be in he realm o analogy and symbols. Wha doesone expec o a space ha aims o hread a narraive? I musdramaically represen isel; i mus be acing. I no only is, bu isrole also suggess ha is an ar piece. (Whas more, i is sel-

&

Opposite: Painters in Dafen, photography

and oil-painting

This page: Shenzhen Time, multi-media

image & Shengzhen Memory, archive-file

installation


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explanaory ha i is an ar piece -- no doub abou ha.)Archiecure commonly alers he qualiy o is surround ings hroughisel and, hereore, becomes a ace in he landscape. Painings ollowhe same process, only o presen he whole o landscape as a ace. Ashe French philosopher Deleuze and psychologis Guatari pu i,acial close-ups ransorm a ace ino an aricial landscape. Tesuper-scale Mona Lisa as he acade is boh, a sign ha communicaes

hrough allusion, and he ace and landscape o he archiecure as awhole. I is acing.Tis perormaive aspec o archiecure derives rom is reacion ohe siuaion and condiion i lays in, sruggling beween being an arin ime or an ar in space. In he inan days o he projec, he designeam considered bringing in live perormance or perormance ar;now he pavilion claims isel o be he perormer. From he ouside, iisn hrough chosen vocabulary and consequen deailedimplemenaion ha he pavilions srong persona is emanaed. Wemay see oo much o ha in he World Expo.

Raher, i proposes a sign in place o decoraions. Hence, aesheicsare made communicaive, legible and polysemic. O course, oneshould always be cauious o signs urning ino archiecures. Is imere rheoric? Is i oo erocious? Does i generae a dialecicalrelaion o he archiecure? Daen Lisa does i jus righ:Te Eye is he key o enering he archiecural ace (one is no sayinghere should be any rick in he giganic Mona Lisa paining). Te Eyeis he black hole on a Whie Wall. I akes everyhing in wihou anyeedback, as opposed o he Whie Wall, which refecing everyhing

back wihou aking any in. Unineresing archiecure is li ke a acewihou Eyes, raher mask-like: he mask eiher assures he headsbelonging o he body, or assures he erecion, he consr ucion o heace.

This page: Recycle Box, installation

Opposite: Crown-cloud, sculpture


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