Vestiges of a Process: Shanghai Shikumen Project 过程的瞬间：上海石库门计划

Creator(s)

Jian-Jun ZHANG 张建军

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Date

6-24-2007

Format

Article

Location of Exhibition Event

Qipu Road, Hongkou District, Shanghai

Description

The artist made the photographic documentation of Shikumen, communities consisting of old stone houses in Shanghai, in 1995. The project had lasted about twelve years, and turned out nearly ten thousand black-and-white photos. The neighborhood of Shikumen was built in 1923 and was torn down in summer 2007. It has unique stone structures and architectural style, which became a collective memory for the generations who lived there for decades. Every photo was stamped with a large red character "chai", meaning "to demolish," marking the building to be taken down by bulldozers in China (ZHOU Yan, "A History of Contemporary Chinese Art: 1949 to Present", Springer, Singapore, 2008, pp. 387-388). (Yifan Shang '25)