Helen Deng

    THE 2011 Shenzhen & Hong Kong Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture is being held at the Shenzhen Civic Square and OCT-LOFT until Feb. 18, 2012.

    With the theme “Architecture Creates Cities, Cities Create Architecture,” the biennale portrays the endless interaction between architecture and cities and encourages discussion on sustainability and vitality.

    The biennale juxtaposes that interaction as experienced in Shenzhen and other cities in China with that of other cities around the world in exhibitions, publications, collateral events and, even, in its logo, which graphically interprets the theme by stringing two sentences together in the form of a Mobius strip.

    The chief curator is Terence Riley, an internationally recognized leader in the fields of design and architecture. In addition to the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Miami Art Museum, he has played a lead role in the architect selection for numerous institutions including the Reina Sofia Museum of Art (Madrid, Spain) and the Parrish Museum of Art (Southampton, NY). He has served on many architectural juries and was chairman of the jury for the 2002 Venice Biennale and the jury for the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon (Washington, D.C.). It was the first time for the biennale to have a non-Chinese chief curator.

    The featured exhibitions strive to express a global experience and dialogue.

    “Six Under 60” is a multimedia project that investigates the successes and failures of six new cities, including Shenzhen, Las Vegas of the United States; Almere of the Netherlands, Gaborone of Botswana, Brasilia of Brazil; and Chandigarh of India.

    The exhibition features new videography tracing their ongoing evolution from master plans to actual cities. “Shenzhen Builds” exhibits five major urban projects, designed by leading architects, currently or soon to be under construction in Shenzhen. It reveals their design processes and the projects’ impact on the surrounding environment, architecture and urban development.

    “Counterpart Cities” selects six groups from Shenzhen and Hong Kong respectively, to elicit their ecological and environmental issues and propose solutions.

    Other exhibitions such as “8 Urban Projects,” “Informal China,” “Chinese Cities in Two Views” and “Boom! Shenzhen” provide in-depth studies on urbanization at the regional and city level in China.

    The biennale also provides a venue for young architects, artists and designers. “The Street” invited an international roster of 12 architects in their 30s and 40s to design 12 facades in their own architectural language, as well as an installation of their work.

    Together, the 12 facades create a street-like environment, reflecting the theme of the biennale. “Ultra-Light Village” highlights the work of a selection of younger, international architects at the Civic Square.

    The biennale also includes “International Pavilions.” Featured in this section of the biennale is an award-winning project from the 2010 Venice Biennale of Architecture, “Reclaim.”

    “Reclaim” of the Bahrain Pavilion was awarded Best National Participation, which consists of three fishing platforms. The informal waterfront structures that used to line the sea and served as lively social spaces before the real estate boom of recent decades reconfigured the city’s shore. It echoes Shenzhen’s experience of being developed from a small fishing village to an international modern city.

    The biennale also presents “Exhibition of Universiade Stories,” which showcases the newly constructed stadiums, and investigates the impact that large public events have on the city.

    Another presentation of regional development is “The Research, Competition and Exhibition of Innovative Public Housing.” The biennale includes the fifth phase of this project, the exhibition and final review phase of design submissions.

    Independent movie screening at OCAT