12 Nov, 2009, Chief Curator Ou Ning and cinematograph collector Huang Jianxin went to Yitian Holiday Plaza in search of screening venues for the urbanism/architecture film exhibition, a special project of the Bi-city Biennale. The film exhibition will screen 8 films themed on urbanism and architecture, all in 16mm format. There are some 16mm and 8 mm cinematographs in thecinema but for display only. The real screenings are all done by digital equipment. It’s a rare chance for the audience who’ve been away from films for a long time to enjoy the special experience again.

Recently, Taiwanese artist Lin Chi Wei came to Shenzhen to do research for his participant project: Shenzhen – Society Measurement through Sound. A children art school, a Hakka folk song chorus and a traditional Cantonese music band joined the research already and they will invite three more social associations. Without any previously given instruction, a long “Tape” with written phonetic characters is transmitted through the audience, who are forced to react to the long tape on their instinct. If most of the audience starts to read it (as it is in most of the cases), then an ever evolving mass of harmonic sound is formed in several minutes. A unique rhythm, speed and tonal expression are synthesized both by personal interpretation and collective interactions.

Urban Oasis, participant work of architect Zhu Pei is already under preparation on the exhibition site, the first of all the participant works. Urban Oasis is a pavillion with bamboos woven together into a spiral shell form. It’s an urban oasis where people can gather to relax, communicate, and share their experiences in artful space. While the typical modern environment separates people into individuals in an urban desert, the pavilion brings people together and fosters communication in a calming setting.

An urbanism\architecture themed film exhibition will be held during the Bi-city Biennale. We borrowed 8 films from 1920s to 1950s in 16 mm format from MoMA. To look for 16 mm cinematograph, Chief Curator Ou Ning visited collector Huang Jianxin in Buji, Shenzhen. Mr. Huang is a super fan for tradition films and cinematographs. He is very enthusiastic about the film exhibition and promised to call for other collectors of Shenzhen to form a civic projectionist team for the Bi-city Biennale.

Please see below for the list of the 8 films. Welcome to join us in the screenings:

Rien que les Heures [Only the Hours], Cavalcanti, (France 1926, 45 min)
Berlin, Symphony of a Great City, Ruttman, (Germany, 1927, 65 min)
Man With A Movie Camera, Vertov (USSR, 1927, 68 min)
Sunrise, Murnau, (US, 1927, 94 min)
Les Mystêres du Chateau du Dè, Man Ray, (France, 1929, 27 min)
Architectures d’Aujourd’hui & Batir, Chenal/Le Corbusier, (France, 1931, 18min /11 min)
NY NY, Thompson, (US, 1957, 15 min)
Bridges-Go-Round, Clarke, (US 1958, 4 min)

*The video is made by the documentary team of ‘09 SZHKB. Director: Bai Xiaoci.

7 Nov, 2009. Writer and director Zhu Wen came to Shenzhen to shoot a documentary for the special project “Odyssey: Architecture and Literature”. This video shows his shooting process on the main exhibition site—Shenzhen Civic Square. It was a bit cloudy but the pictures look great. The film will be screened in the opening on 6 Dec, 2009.

The nine stories of Odyssey: Architecture and Literature are out! Odyssey is one of the special projects of ‘09 SZHK Bi-city Biennale. The stories are published in a special issue of the No. 48 issue of Life magazine. The nine stories are based on nine architecture built within the last 10 years in China. Click here for more info of the projects.

Yesterday, the curatorial team finally moved to Shenzhen to work together with the Organizer Committee office. The whole team held a 6-hour meeting, mainly discussing how to realize the participant works and the special projects. Hong Kong media, RTHK recorded the process.

On 29 October, the second European preview of the SZHK Bi-city Biennale was held in London Architecture Fundation as well. The preview was well received by the audience. Kieran Long, chief editor of Architectural Review  presided the event. Participants including Ann Catherine and Michael Obrist from feld 72 and David Chambers and Kevin Hayley from Aberrant presented their works. Another participant Alexander Sverdlov from SVESMi couldn’t make it and Kieran Long played a DVD for him.

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Chief curator Ou Ning and curator Beatrice Galilee arrived in London on 28 October to host the first European preview of the Bi-city Biennale. The preview was held in the space of the Architecture Foundation. It was so full that many of the audience had to stand.  Sarah Ichioka, director of the Architecture Foundation gave an initial speech. The foundation warmly supported the Bi-city Biennale and co-hosted the European preview. Then participant artists Didier Fiuiza Faustino (Bureau des Mésarchitectures) and Bjarke Ingels (BIG) presented their works respectively. Young Danish architect Bjarke drew wide attention from the audience. He mentioned “Urban Movement”, the key words of his proposal for this year’s Bi-city Biennale. It means “measure the buildings with bodies, experience the cities by motions”.

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Rotterdam artist Lara Almarcegui just spent a week in Shenzhen to make the research for her project Empty Terrains. By foot, by bus and by car, meeting architects and urban planning office staff, Lara covered all points of the city searching out and documenting empty spaces in the city center of Shenzhen. Her project is informed by a fundamental question: What does a site look like before its architecture? A key site in Luohu next to the Hong Kong border has been selected by the artist.

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