10 - Translocal Site-Responsiveness of Urban Creativity in Mainland China
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2021
Summary
Abstract
The forms of urban creativity mediated to Mainland China since the 1990s are reshaping cityscapes. The contributions of foreign artists and practitioners are facilitating the rise of novel subjectivities, sites, and interventions. Inspired by discussions on interrelations of art and street art with site (Kwon 2000, 2004; Bengtsen 2013, 2014; Valjakka 2015) and translocality (Low 2016; Brickell and Datta 2011), I propose the framework of translocal site-responsiveness to deconstruct local/global dichotomies and to contribute to a more rounded understanding of artistic and creative practices. The analysis of selected examples reveals the interdependence between the varied forms of agency, manifestations, and site/place/ space and contextualizes these negotiation processes in local and global discourses. I posit that urban creativity, whether created by foreigners, locals, or in collaboration, can provide a meaningful engagement with urban environments.
Keywords: translocal site-responsiveness, urban creativity, street art, contemporary graffiti, site-specific
Each time we enter a new place, we become one of the ingredients of an existing hybridity, which is really what all ‘local places’ consist of.
– Lucy Lippard (1997: 6)In 2008-2010, the Urban Carpet (都市挂毯) project resonated in the alleys of Beijing. By bringing a novel method to envision a neighbourhood, the project inspired residents to share their individual and collective memories of the local area (Figure 10.1). The residents were mesmerized by interventions engaging directly with their communities because they lacked previous experience of such meticulous maps and, more importantly, because of the unusual form and aesthetics. The first maps that Italian architects Marcella Campa (b. 1974) and Stefano Avesani (b. 1977) used for their project were provided by their Venetian university because similar records were not readily available in Mainland China at that time. With the support of the Italian Cultural Institute, movin’UP, and the Pollock Krasner Foundation, Campa and Avesani commissioned eight maps of particular old residential areas (hutongs 胡同) in Beijing to be hand-embroidered on large canvases. To emphasize the characteristics of each community, the carpets were made in different colours although without any specific relation between the colour chosen and the area in question. Each map depicted a district of around one-square kilometre and about 25,000-30,000 residents, a community of its own within the capital.
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- Visual Arts, Representations and Interventions in Contemporary ChinaUrbanized Interface, pp. 285 - 316Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018