Cao Zhen caozhen0806@126.com A STREET dance infused with traditional Chinese acrobatics by a group of Bao’an people drew the Bao’an subvenue of the 2019 Bi-City Biennale of UrbanismArchitecture (Shenzhen) to a close Saturday in Qiaotou Community. Themed “Coordinates: Theater,” the subvenue featured 60 artworks or projects by 50-plus artists and architects and extended the significance of the symbol “theater” through the reuse of idle and inactive community spaces in the community. With the help of art, architecture and technology, the whole event, which ran from Dec. 22 last year to June 6, revitalized the historical village with interactive exhibits, infrastructure improvement, workshops, movie screenings, music shows and forums. During the COVID-19 outbreak, a virtual exhibition and live-streaming events were also held. Qiaotou used to be a market for fishermen and merchants doing business during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). In the 1980s, factories were built and a large number of migrant workers moved in to contribute to Shenzhen’s industrial development. Now, ancestral halls, temples, old wells and old Cantonese opera stages coexist with industrial factories. The injection of contemporary art and new technology into the old community, the future lifestyle of the villagers and migrant workers there and creating new possibilities for the community were the main issues considered by the artists and architects. Architect Doreen Heng Liu and her NODE company designed a 210-meter-long landscape installation over a closed canal for residents in Qiaotou. An abandoned community park and parking lot there were also transformed by architects into leisure space. Roads, an old market and an old stage get a facelift. “The biennale offered many practical solutions. Architects did research and created works in an area based on its unique features,” said artist Yang Yong, curator of the biennale’s Bao’an subvenue and founder of Shangqi Art, at the closing forum Saturday. “Public culture and communities are inseparable,” Yang added. | 