Exhibition / 2007
2007 Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture
Urban-New Spectacle — Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages
A hands-on practice in the context of western China
Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages
Many years ago, a sweeping movement gave “going up to the mountains and down to the villages” a particular meaning. Many years later, working from Guizhou’s distinctive context, West-Line Studio has recast it through professional practice as both an attitude towards work and a strategy of thought. The attitude is one of bodily engagement, committed practice and a grounded confrontation with reality. The strategy holds two directions of architectural exploration.
“Up to the mountains” attempts to turn the particular geographical constraints of Guizhou’s mountainous terrain into means of organising space. It opens an investigation into the division and reorganisation of inward-looking spaces through spatial constraints. Branching routes and movement up and down through the mountains are among the most productive of these experiments.
“Down to the villages” involves entering, as an outsider, a rural society of face-to-face familiarity. It brings the bewilderment of unfamiliar experience and renewed attention to a forgotten sense of embodiment. Experiments in building through the body seek to awaken its capacity to respond emotionally to a place…
“Up to the mountains and down to the villages” — a working code for West-Line Studio.
Project credits
West-Line Studio · Haobo Wei, Ke Zhou, Sichuan Hu and Minghua Ou.
Catalogue entry 033 · project statement and photographs, pages 176–178.
Participation certificate
The Chongqing branch of the 2007 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture, together with “Urban_New Spectacle”, the Contemporary Urbanism / Architecture Invitation Exhibition, opened successfully in Chongqing on 29 December 2007.
West-Line Studio — Haobo Wei, Ke Zhou, Sichuan Hu and Minghua Ou — was invited to exhibit “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Villages: A Hands-on Practice in the Context of Western China”.
This certificate is issued in acknowledgement and appreciation.
Organising Committee of the Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism / Architecture · 15 January 2008.
Certificate cover: Urban_New Spectacle · Contemporary Urbanism / Architecture Invitation Exhibition · 29 December 2007–15 January 2008 · Participation Certificate · FE-05.
Source
English translation of the project statement on catalogue page 177 and the participation certificate. Photographs: catalogue pages 176 and 178.
Original documents
Catalogue cover, original pages and participation certificate. Select a thumbnail to enlarge.