TWO teams, consisting of leading artists and curators from China and overseas regions, were appointed as the chief curators of the 5th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale Shenzhen (UABB Shenzhen), which will be held in December, according to the organizing committee of the UABB Shenzhen on Feb. 1.

    Ole Bouman and his team from the Netherlands will be in charge of the A exhibition venue which is at Yaopi Float Glass Factory. The team led by Li Xiangning and Jeffrey Johnson will take over the B venue at the Old Warehouse at Shekou Ferry.

    This is the first time overseas curators and creative teams have been invited to the event, the committee said.

    Bouman, creative director of the event, is a Dutch architect, author, educator and expert in global architecture and urbanism. His exhibition project — Housing With a Mission, Dutch and Chinese Architects’ Designs for the Ants Tribe — won the Organizer Committee Award at the UABB Shenzhen in 2011.

    The academic directors are Li from China and Johnson from the United States. Li, professor at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Shanghai, is a renowned scholar of contemporary Chinese architectural theory and criticism. He was the chief curator of several exhibition events including the Hainan Sanya Design Biennale, Milan Triennale and Chengdu Biennale.

    Johnson is the founder and director of China Lab at Columbia University in the United States. He and Li also attended the previous UABB Shenzhen.

    The theme of this year’s UABB is “urban border,” emphasizing the diversity, differences and individuality which are ignored and even hidden, by mainstream trends and homogeneity inherent in urbanization. Both UABB Shenzhen and Hong Kong will use the same theme.

    Shekou is one of the pioneering areas of China’s reform and opening up, providing UABB an opportunity to witness the new chapter of urbanization of the Pearl River Delta region, the organizing committee said.

    Related exhibitions will also be held in other venues across the city.

    The UABB is the only biennial exhibition in the world which focuses on urbanism and urbanization. It was first held in Shenzhen in 2005. Since 2007, Hong Kong has been invited to participate in the event, displaying the development of urbanization and the living environment in Shenzhen, Hong Kong, other areas in China and even around the world.

    So far, more than 520 outstanding international projects have been exhibited at the event, attracting more than 600,000 visitors.

    (Wang Yuanyuan)