Happy to share the videos from “Unidentified Acts of Design,” curated by Brendan Cormier and Luisa Mengoni. Enjoy this great intro into Shenzhen design. The first is on the painters of Dafen Village.
Category Archives: video
Guangming landslide
By now you may have already seen footage of the Guangming landslide, which occurred yesterday at 11:40. The landslide buried twenty-two buildings and has affected 15 businesses. Only one person has been reported dead.
Help for the area is being organized on WeChat and weibo, and the research group reTUMU is also providing virtual updates. In addition, Chinese sites have a lot of information, however, to actually view videos (especially on Soku or Youku), you need to be using a Chinese browser. For those googling information in Chinese, the complete address is: 光明新区凤凰社区恒泰裕工业园. The word for landslide is 山体滑坡。
For those using non-Chinese browsers, this video has been uploaded to youtube:
handshake 302: this is what we do
A short video about “Of a Piece”, the project that Handshake 302 brought to the Shenzhen Art Museum, June 1-19, 2015.
the center besieged…
In several of my WeChat circles, an excerpt from the snarky classic, Fortress Besieged (围城) by Qian Zhongshu has been activated by those sympathetic to the Hong Kong students. It is however not unequivocal support, after all Fang Hongjian was not so much a hero, as a first generation off the farm urbanite caught between competing value systems, not quite at home in either China or the West. Conflicted and going about causing conflicts, intentionally and not, as he tries to live his life in Republican Shanghai. I have roughly translated the passage below: Continue reading
Exit A Baishizhou Station, Luobao Metro Line
51 seconds in Baishizhou.
paper crane tea #4 online!
This edition of Paper Crane, Animal City Rights looks at how abandoned cats and dogs are treated in Shenzhen, including the efforts of SZCat, a community organization that actively promotes animal welfare. In fact, just yesterday, CZCat protested at the Futian hospital because a security guard had abused an abandoned cat. The episode was recorded but the administration ignored it. So SZCat occupied the SARS monument plaza in front of the hospital, generating TV coverage of the plight of abandoned pets and urban feral cats.
paper crane 3 online!
And here’s the link, “Arrival Shenzhen”, episode 3 in the series.
paper crane tea #2 is online
For the curious. “So why do foreigners go to urban villages?” is online. Please check it out and grow the conversation about Baishizhou and why it matters. For all of us.
what’s the good of public art…
…in an urban village?
This was the topic of the first Paper Crane Tea 2014.03.09. I’m posting the link because my VPN isn’t fast enough to tunnel video over or under the great firewall. Will upload next time I’m in Hong Kong. Sigh.
reports from caiwuwei
The research division of Urbanus has sponsored Fu Na and Chris Gee’s research in Caiwuwei these past three years. Just recently, they released three videos that take viewers on walks through what remains of Caiwuwei. Of note: Caiwuwei has been upgraded and polished into an exemplar of the potential of high density living that can be created through appropriations of handshake buildings. So commercial opportunities and low-cost conveniently located housing, with minimal investment in public spaces and amenities. Links:
Shenzhen Noted 