Light and space create tranquility
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China Arts and Entertainment Group unveiled the concepts and centerpiece Tuesday of the Chinese Pavilion at the upcoming 12th International Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale di Venezia.
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A demonstration of Wind Wall by Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge. [Global Times] |
A series of works by renowned Chinese architects and visual artists will be on show at the pavilion, including architects Zhu Pei and Zhu Yufan, artists Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge and contemporary visual artists Xu Lei and Wang Wei.
The involvement will be the third time that China has participated in the architectural fair and organizers announced that fresh, new dynamic Chinese architectural concepts will be presented to the world.
The main attraction will be Yi Garden, an installation by Zhu Pei, who is well known both at home and overseas and has won several Chinese and international architectural prizes.
Yi Garden will not be an architectural model of a real garden, but a number of transparent or semi-transparent acrylic bars occupying the lawn of Virgini Garden, the main area of the Chinese pavilion.
By erecting more than 1,300 acrylic bars at the center of the lawn, Zhu said that he will "poetically render aesthetics of a traditional Chinese garden via contemporary and futuristic ways of expression."
When viewed from afar, the giant installation resembles a large white cloud hovering above the ground, as the bars of the upper part of the installation are semi-transparent and the lower half is totally transparent. When entering large or small spaces partitioned by the bars, people have the chance to both relax and observe the interior construction of the entire architectural installation.
"I tried my best to create a poetic atmosphere for people either entering the installation or seeing it from far away," Zhu Pei told Global Times. "The acrylic bars are definitely an element of our contemporary society, but the way of construction, the sense of space, that was inspired from traditional Chinese gardens and calligraphy."
Other pieces that will be on display at the Chinese pavilion include Wind Wall by Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge, both renowned for their application of natural landscapes in film director Zhang Yimou's large-scale outdoor Impression series.
"There won't be a real wall in our work at the biennale, but audiences can sense it with their bodies while getting very close to it," explained Fan Yue.
"We use wind and light to create a wall that actually does not exist," he said.
To enhance the illusion of a wall, they will also use sculptural birds changing their flight pattern as if be-ing forced to when hitting a "wall of wind," according to Fan.
Architect and critic Tang Keyang and his theme Here for a Chinese Appointment beat his more well-known rivals Fang Zhenning and Zhang Qing in vying to be the curator of the Chinese pavilion at Virgini Garden and Arsenale in Venice.
Tang's theme perfectly resonated the general theme of the international exhibition, People Meet in Architecture, by director of the exhibition Kazuyo Sejima, a world famous Japanese architect, according to Wang Mingxian, famous architect and one of the judges on the curator-selecting panel consisting of several well-known architects and experts.
"The word 'here' emphasizes a gesture as a host, meaning that China invites people from around the globe to see the most vigorous Chinese architectural concepts at the Chinese pavilion," commented Fan Di'an, director of the National Art Museum of China and a panel judge.
Within the ideology of Here for a Chinese Appointment, a group of participating architects and artists, all strictly selected by curator Tang, will endeavor to make their works interpret the most dynamic Chinese culture and architectural concepts.
The pavilion is being organized by China Arts and Entertainment Group, affiliated to the Chinese Ministry of Culture.
Yan Dong, deputy general manager of the group explained that participating in the biennale allows China to show its new architectural ideas to the world and learn from others attending the fair.
Part of the Biennale di Venezia, the International Architecture Exhibition was initiated in 1975 and is now one of the most prestigious architectural events in the world. The event is aimed at demonstrating the most innovating architectural ideas from across the globe.
The fair will be held from August 29 to November 21, at the Giardini, Arsenale and various venues in Venice.
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