‘No Where There – Works by Tang Jing’ will be unveiled at the 1844 Macau Photography Art Space at 6:30 pm, January 15, presenting 13 works that capture the European-style architecture in various Chinese cities. The exhibition runs through March 16.
For at least some Europeans travelling in China, the all-too-common sight of familiar architectures must be baffling sometimes: the Leaning Tower of Pisa in the suburb of Shanghai, the Arc de Triomphe standing right next to the Great Sphinx outside a university in Wuhan, the Moscow Kremlin serving as the district government building in Beijing, and the countless Parises, Florences, and Thames Towns…They are ubiquitous on the vast land, creating a bizarre spectacle.
These buildings, known as ‘duplitectures’, become the focus of the lens of Chinese photographer Tang Jing, who hopes to evoke deeper thinking and debate on the phenomenon through art. We speak with the artist before the exhibition about his creative journey of this series.
Tang Jing studied photography at the School of Fine Arts & Design Kassel, Germany after obtaining his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from Hubei Institute of Fine Arts and has been very active as a freelance photographic artist and curator in recent years. ‘I gave up sculpture after graduation because a professional sculptor in China mostly deals with heavy construction projects, which often equals coarse works and many unspeakable secrets in the construction—what I’m trying to criticize now with my photographs,’ Tang laughs.
The title of the exhibition, ‘No Where There’, is a paraphrase of ‘utopia’, and the Chinese title directly borrows the translated name of Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World. He explains, ‘This series of works have a strong critical attitude. My previous series, “Growth”, centred on the development of cities. But I gradually got the feeling that the urban development and architecture in China are largely uncultured. The inheritance of traditional culture is blurred or lost, and the orientation in the country has been toward consumption for quite some years. I hope to stimulate the discussion on consumption and culture through these images.’
The fictional society in Brave New World is by no means positive, just like the contrast Tang wants to highlight between the splendid architectures and the cultural confusion. ‘The polished appearances are merely tools to encourage consumption,’ Tang argues.
The series were created from 2013 to 2015 in various cities, e.g. Shanghai, Wuhan, and Hangzhou. For this exhibition, Tang has selected 10 photographs, and 3 light boxes—his preferred form of presentation. ‘Light boxes are usually for advertisements, and they are glamourous and eye-catching, just like the subjects in my photos. Viewers may have the first impression that they are taken in Europe, but then the surroundings will look different, and they will be able to think more deeply. That’s my intention,’ says Tang.
‘I did not shoot buildings in theme parks or shopping malls—but in the public domain,’ the photographer adds. ‘For example, you can take a look at the bridge in Suzhou that looks exactly like the Tower Bridge in London. It is a real bridge in the transport system of Suzhou. I saw this odd-looking bridge and couldn’t help wondering, “Who made the decision to build this bridge? With the architectural style, what cultural concept did the decision-maker want to attach to the urban landscape?”
The cause for the prevalence of such buildings throughout the nation is ‘not just cultural colonialism’, Tang says, pointing out that European-style buildings erected in the foreign concessions in the early 20th century have cultural implications and are often well preserved, whist traditional Chinese buildings mostly end in demolition. As a result, ‘when governments want to build a major facility, they fail to imagine what it should look like and just copy and paste.’
On the other hand, the artist believes turning to traditional Chinese architecture might not be the solution, either. A vivid example is the Beijingxi Railway Station, built in the most popular architectural form in the 1990s, with a modern-style main structure and oddly, a Chinese palace-style roof. ‘Society has enormous needs for large-scale and functional buildings, but the aesthetic paradigms to meet these needs are absent. So, they simply mix the functionality of modern western architecture and the appearance of Chinese traditions—but without supporting details, the cultural significance is lost. Traditions are often neglected, true, but more importantly, they fail to develop a path to survive and thrive in today’s world. I hope viewers of this exhibition could go beyond popular ridicule of these buildings and contemplate the phenomenon from multiple aspects.’
‘I know the question is difficult to answer. But the artist’s job is to raise questions, not to answer them,’ he laughs, indicating that the causes and significance of these buildings not just concern culture and aesthetics, but also economy and social orientations. ‘We could draw references from other places, like Taiwan, Hong Kong or even Japan, to learn how they preserve Chinese cultural traditions in a modern context,’ Tang states. ‘I’m also thrilled about the exhibition in Macau. My works have both Chinese roots and western visual habits and experience, and when they are exhibited in places of different cultures, they can strike different sparks!’
