Acclaimed Chinese practice MAD has opened an exhibition at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MoCAUP) in China. 

The exhibition, titled Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion, represents the MoCAUP’s first solo exhibition of architecture since its opening in 2016, and represents the largest, most comprehensive, and critical exhibition since MAD’s founding in 2004. 

The exhibition showcases an extensive work of MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano, through 52 projects. 

The exhibition opened to the public on 29 September and will be on view until 17 December 2023 at MoCAUP.  

Image © TAL+Baiyu

The show spans almost two decades of MAD's work across an expansive space of more than 3,000 square meters.

The main goal of the exhibition is to delve into MAD's own concerns, thoughts and attitudes towards different topics that are related to cities, communities, architecture, humanity and nature.

Image © TAL+Baiyu

On the other hand, the show aims to raise the public's awareness of the value and significance they can bring by their participating in the joint planning and discussion of their cities and communities. 

"That's a way for the public to unfold their imaginations of the future of their cities and lives," said MAD in its project description.

"Architecture and cities are not abstract scientific technologies but real settings where life unfolds. They represent feelings, ambience, and time. They carry traits of living beings; thus they are full of energy, flow, dynamism, and uncertainty," Ma Yansong explains the exhibition’s motif in the preface.

"Architecture is alive, growing with the earth, endowed with life, rich in emotions, perceptive of time, and compassionate to everything."

Image © TAL+Baiyu

Yansong added that "the goal of this exhibition is to use architecture as a conduit to explore cultural life, allowing us to probe our inner selves while observing the dynamic, diverse, and fluid cultural landscape of contemporary society."

The exhibition is divided into four chapters: Dialogue, Progress, Feelings are Facts, and Rhapsody.

Image © TAL+Baiyu

More than half of the exhibits include works never seen by the public, including Ma Yansong’s hand sketches, detailed drawings from design development, proposals from landscape and structural collaborators, architectural models, and image and video archives of construction process.

Image © TAL+Baiyu

For instance, the main section of the exhibition commences with more than 180 questions posed from current and previous architects from MAD. 

The questions touch upon topics related to urban development, architecture, daily life, the role of architects, the future, and dreams, all of which MAD members consider and doubt when designing. Selected questions are further put on a huge circle table, hoping for visitors to further engage in ongoing, extensive, and profound dialogues.

Image © TAL+Baiyu

In Dialogue section, the show features the studio's 7 urban public projects - most of which are also city landmarks, such as the Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, Harbin Opera House, FENIX Museum of Migration, Quzhou Sports Park, Yiwu Grand Theater, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and Freedom (a public installation). 

Image © TAL+Baiyu

The embedded design philosophy is the response MAD rendered to questions regarding cities, communities, and people’s well-being. Before starting the journey through the exhibition, visitors can view questions first laid on the wall for all to ponder: "Can architecture reshape society’s boundaries?", "What defines a happy city?", and "What will China’s cities resemble in the future?".

Image © TAL+Baiyu

In Progress section, this section showcases MAD projects either under construction or completed, including the Zhongguancun Forum Congress Center, Hainan Science and Technology Museum, Jiaxing Train Station, and Absolute Towers. 

These projects represent MAD’s diverse practices: the future city originates from the imagination of a diverse and dynamic urban reality.

Image © TAL+Baiyu

The third section, Feelings are Facts, brings MAD's 15 design and land art projects to the forth, including the Tunnel of Light, Light, and Superstar. 

These projects showcase MAD’s imagination when addressing different topics through a medium outside of typical architecture. 

Even so, the design philosophy behind art projects interlink as those of architecture; imagination generates from emotions toward a reality.

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The final section, Rhapsody, weaves together 12 projects, including Beijing 2050, Hutong Bubble, and Floating Island, to form a living rhapsody about the city. As the studio explained, "each project reflects MAD’s contemplation and criticism of urban reality." 

"The work of MAD is like a rhapsody, representing a rebellious and critical attitude. It also manifests an opposition to a generic pattern, goal, form, or language. I am intrigued by responding to the real world with diverse, genuine, and positive emotions," Ma Yansong added.

Image © TAL+Baiyu

The exhibition employs various dimensions of display and inquiry to inspire the public to explore and reflect upon the intricate relationships between cities, history, time, and nature. 

The aim of the exhibit is to encourage the public to delve into their inner thoughts and expand their imagination of future life and urban environments.

Image © TAL+Baiyu

On October 12th, MoCAUP held a series of themed forums, and 19 guests, including artists, musicians, art curators, art critics, and writers, engaged in discussions on the publicity of urban architecture, art in motion, and crossover dialogue on culture. 

These forums, spanning urban areas, architecture, art, philosophy, and literature, extended the scope from architecture to all aspects of life.

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Image © POSITION

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Image © Wang Xiaotian

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MAD unveiled design for the renovation and extension of a warehouse at a former cement factory with "a spaceship-like rooftop extension" in Shanghai. The studio designs a new culture and arts center that is hidden beneath white metal roofs scattered like "bamboo leaves" in Anji, China.

Exhibition facts

Exhibition name: Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion

Dates: 29 September - 17 December 2023
Venue: Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning, Ground Exhibition Hall, A1&B1 Exhibition Hall

Organization 
Supervisor: Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Tourism, Radio & Television, Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Shenzhen Municipality
Organizer: Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning
Co-organizer:  MAD Architects
Supported by: Shenzhen Futian District Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Tourism, and Sports
Producer: Yan Weixin
Exhibition Thanks to: Liu Huiying, Kin Li, Fu Changrui, Dixon Lu, Flora Lee, Tiffany Dahlen, Andrea D'Antrassi

Exhibition Team
Exhibition Directors: Yang Kun, Fiona Qi Ziying
Exhibition Design: Zheng Chengwen, Xue Teng, Cao Chen, Huang Juntao, Tan Miao, Miao Fangyi, Shang Li, Zhang Zhonglin, Li Leyuan
Curatorial Team: Li Ran, Zhu Yuanlong, Cai Yixuan, Zhiyue (Joe) Ma
Exhibition Coordination: Zhou Ning, Zhang Wenqiao
Exhibition Supervision: Sun Baoping, Liang Jinwei
Exhibition Operation: Yan Yulan, Zhang Yun, Li Xiaoyu, Zhang Junrong, Liao Danyu, Xue Xintian, Cheng Yan
Exhibition Business: Sylvie Lyu, Jiang Kuo, Yu Qiannan
Communications and Publicity: Tammy Xie, Liu Danyang, Ji Ruixue, Maison Tydon Communications

Acknowledgement 
Contributing Sponsor: GUOJIAO 1573
Presenting Sponsor: Northglass, Unilumin
Supporting Sponsor: YIHUIDA, BSST, OKAJIMA

Collaborate With
Physical Model Support: QZY Models, JYD Models
Graphic Design: One Thousand Times
Exhibition Set Up: Top Space (China) International Trade Co., Ltd
Light Consultant: RDesign lnternation Lighting
Light Setup: Shanghai Folighting Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd
Printing: Baiqiang Fotoshop Co., Ltd
Partial Documentary Photographs: Social Archive of Chinese Photography (SACP)

Top image in the article © TAL+Bai Yu. 

All images © TAL+Bai Yu, POSITION, ZHOMOMO, Hu Yizi, Wang Xiaotian, Mart Veda.

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