Traces Under the Surface

Li, Zhuozhang and Sun, Ziwen (2023) Traces Under the Surface. [Curation, Exhibition/show, Film, Installation]

Creators:
Li, Zhuozhang and Sun, Ziwen
Description/Abstract:

‘Traces Under the Surface’ is a research-led exhibition commissioned for the opening of the Red-River Culture Art Museum in Beijing, China. The exhibition investigated the transformation of everyday urban space during the Covid lockdown in Chinese cities. It explored how urban visual media can serve as an alternative observation tool for critically understanding the living experience during the pandemic via the lens of students in Beijing. Through a site-specific curation, the exhibition included a group of installations and a film produced in 2022. The co-curators are currently working on a publication with the Beijing Institute of Technology Press.

The exhibition and the film examine the idea of a 'virtual field-trip' to map out a psychogeographic guide of Beijing during the pandemic lockdown. It foregrounds personal stories, as well as their social, spatial, and psychological connections with other people, objects, and spaces in the city. It resonates with the philosopher Judith Butler's writings on pandemic, to highlight how the pandemic illuminated the everyday object as a 'social form' that bears invisible traces. The exhibition aims to register and document the 'unnoticed' stories of grassroots who traverse, resist and negotiate with the authoritative restrictions - stories that would be struggling to find a place in official records but demonstrating an important layer of urban life in the city.

Item Type:
Art/Design Item
Date:
6 January 2023
Funders:
Beijing Institute of Technology
Locations / Venues:
Location
From Date
To Date
Red-River Culture Art Museum, Beijing (延河文化艺术馆), China
6 January 2023
6 April 2023
Schools:
School of Architecture & Design
Depositing User:
Dr Zhuozhang Li
Date Deposited:
20 Apr 2023 13:36
Last Modified:
20 Apr 2023 13:36
Li, Zhuozhang:
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2764-807X
Sun, Ziwen:
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1900-4648
Art/Design Categories:
Curation, Exhibition/show, Film, Installation
URI:
https://research.uca.ac.uk/id/eprint/5949

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