White Rabbit Gallery -
Exhibitions

A Blueprint for Ruins

A Blueprint for Ruins

30 20.12.2023–11.05.2024

A Blueprint for Ruins

Reverberating with the shadows of the dispossessed within China’s urban metamorphosis.

Beneath the glossy surface of progress lurks a simmering undercurrent of violence. Cities tear themselves apart to make way for towering skyscrapers and gleaming high-rises. However, in this bright new world, one question arises: where have all the people gone? Streets devoid of life and vacant apartment blocks stand as haunting reminders of an abandoned dream. Like solemn tombs from a long-lost civilisation, these forgotten monuments silently bear witness to the cost of rapid urbanisation, where each new creation necessitates the destruction of another.

As China’s cities race to embrace modernity in a never-ending dance of renewal, buildings are designed to be demolished even before their completion. The casualties of development are left to drift through the ruins of their ruptured world. Displaced individuals and their stories echo through abandoned spaces, once home to ancestral sites and legacies of long family lineages. Amidst the rubble, however, stand ‘nail houses’, occupying land of immense value. Weaving another layer into China’s complex landscape, they are a testament to both impermanence and resistance against rapacious developers and government-sanctioned mass clearances.

‘A Blueprint for Ruins’ reverberates with the shadows of the dispossessed within China’s urban metamorphosis. The artworks guide us toward the remnants of memories woven into the very fabric of each structure, even as the walls crumble. As the artist Hu Weiyi poignantly writes: “It’s as if every abandoned building, about to disappear, is attempting to sing its last note, and eventually they will come together to form a requiem for an era.”

Photography by Hamish McIntosh

GF
Zhou Dong Exist, 2018-19 acrylic on canvas
350 x 295 cm
Chou Yu-Cheng Bibliotheque #2, 2022 acrylic on paper, mounted on canvas,
212 x 480 cm
Yang Jiechang Heavenly Horse, 2014 Ink and acrylic on paper, mounted on canvas
228 x 491 cm
Wang Sean Purple Star Down onto the Plane, 2011 2011, oil and acrylic on canvas,
162 x 130 cm
1F
Chen Wei Drunken Dance Hall, 2015 wood, steel, lights, acrylic, mirrors, sound
site specific, dimensions variable
Zhou Dong Red Marginal, 2018-19 oil on canvas, diptych,
245 x 320 cm
Liu Wei People 1, 2014 metal, glass,
220 x 210 x 209 cm
Purple Air 1, 2006 oil on canvas,
300 x 380 cm (diptych)
Hsu Chiao-Yen Tomography- The Space of Plus #3, 2012 charcoal, acrylic, plastic
285 x 275 cm
Wu Yue The Forgotten Palace 1, 2, 3 & 4, 2016 glass fibre reinforced concrete,
dimensions variable
2F
Tu Wei-Cheng Bu Num Civilization Revealed, 2003-07 photographic prints, artificial stone, installation,
228.5 x 479 cm
Li Lang A Long Day of A Certain Year. Six Diaries Monday - Saturday, 2019 platinum Palladian print, pencil,
90 x 130 cm x 6 pieces
A Long Day of a Certain Year, 2018 5 channel video projection with sound,
60 minutes 47 seconds
Zhang Xuerui Still Life – Chest 2, L3, L4, 2022 acrylic on canvas,
each 150 x 150 cm
Lin Yen-Wei Plaything Study 2, 9, 10, 19, 2011-19 oil on canvas,
38 x 45 cm x 4 pieces
He Yunchang When Pigs Can Climb Trees, 2009 bronze,
182 x 110 x 80 cm
Zhan Wang Imprinting Terrain (Taipei Version), 2020 stainless steel,
100 x 100 cm x 4 pieces
Ideal 1, 2, 7, 2006 pigment print,
3 pieces each 57.5 x 251 cm
Ideal 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 2006-07 pigment print,
6 pieces, dimensions variable
Yuan Shun Soft Landing, 2018 wood, sand, lights, fog machine, stones, aluminium,
just using 4 panels 400 x 400 cm total
Hu Weiyi Blood Lake 1, 5, 2022 giclée print on baryta paper,
133 x 100 cm x 2 pieces
The Dust Now Inhaled Was Once a House 30, 2021 black and white Piezography print on baryta paper,
138 x 92 cm
Kong Xi To and Fro 1, 2011-13 footprints on handmade paper,
80 x 120 cm
He Chi Goodle, 2019 Porcelain,
1000 pieces, each 3-8 cm diameter
Bai Yiluo Illumination, 2011 antique household lamps,
approx. 600cm diameter
Ouyang Chun Volcanic Ash, 2013 Bronze,
installed approximately 20 x 400 x 500 cm
3F
Hu Qingyan The World of Silence IV, 2022 marble,
65 x 77 x 46 cm
Fruit and Vegetable Store 1, 2022 marble,
9 pieces each 31 x 53.5 x 37 cm
Exhale Inhale, 2022 marble,
73 x 58 x 44 cm
Zhou Jie CBD, 2010 porcelain, rice,
80 x 400 x 400 cm
Chen Siyu Temporary Space, 2017 single channel video (silent),
3 min 20 sec
Video Videography: Moon Vision Studio
White rabbit gallery: A Blueprint for Ruins exhibition. Blood lake #5. Artwork by Hu Weiyi
Virtual Tour
Chen Wei - Drunken Dane Hall
Past Exhibitions
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