Shenzhen | SZHKBiennale opening day

December 11th, 2009 • architectures, events, movingmemos

MovingCities spend last week in Shenzhen attending the opening of the 2009 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (SZHKB). On Sunday, we went sightseeing on the biennale’s main spot: Shenzhen’s Civic Square, the political and bureaucratic heart of the city. Snapshots of accidental encounters with installations.

Organized around the theme of “City Mobilization” – read the curatorial statement by Ou Ning – the  SZHKB aims to test the possibility of large-scale, effective social mobilization in a time that lacks centralized force, spiritual solidarity and practical organization. The design of contemporary cities are not only about the functional planning of streets and blocks and the arrangement of buildings, rather it is about the organization and coordination of the people living in and events occurring inside these cities and spaces, as well as the elaborate distribution of their interests.

For complete overview check SZHKB website:

• Program of the opening week events
• Projects of the participating architects

On the opening day, MovingCities wandered around the main venue site, in search of what could possibly mobilize this city. Everything, apparently: the masses for the open lecture by Toyo Ito, Chinese cabdrivers offering free rides for the GoWest Project, and free karaoke-and-drinks for all by International Festival. Scattered impressions.

Pictures by movingcities.org

Featured SZHK participating architects in this post:
standardarchitecture [CN]  .  Maurer United [NL]  .  Toyo Ito [JP]  . GoWest Project [NL]  .  Didier Fiuza Faustino /Bureau des Mésarchitectures [FR]  .  Jiakun Architects [CN]  .  Lot-EK [US]  .  WEAK! Architects [ROC] and Marco Casagrande [FI]  .  Studio Pei-Zhu [CN]  .  International Festival [SE]

tags: architecture, exhibition, shenzhen 深圳, urbanism

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