Wednesday, April 30, 2008

NYU studio in action at a Shikumen housing area





Tear
We will "infiltrate" the demolition site at Shi Men Lu and Wei Hai Lu in the early morning, April 27. Beginning in one area and spreading outwards, we will repeatedly paint (chāi) 拆 (tear down) on the remaining shells of the buildings, overlapping our strokes until the surrounding walls and rubble appear whitewashed, "erased". The repetition of brush strokes echoes the ongoing changing geography of urban China; walls are being torn down every day. 拆 questions the value of preservation of the past, modernization, the definition of ownership.

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