Objectives

Understand how artists and designers take the context of their work and transform it into the content

Critically engage with the essentialized categories of China/the West in urban visual culture

Understand how the visual identity of a city potentially facilitates or hinders the communication of political visions and societal norms

Consider how long-lived practices of city design, spatialization, and conceptualization feed the contemporary city in China

Learn basics of curating an exhibition

INTRODUCTIONS

WEEK 1. Grids and Graphs for the Course and the City

Jan 6 Introductions

BLOG 1.0: introduce yourself to colleagues in the conference by posting a photograph of your favourite city (real or fictional). Please come to conference on Tuesday prepared to share your thoughts about it––what makes it distinctive as a city to you?

Read syllabus carefully and plan ahead.

Jan 8 What is a city? Critical problems of power and space

FOR DISCUSSION, READ
“How Chinese are China’s Planned Cities?” Interview of Dieter Hassenpflug, Founding Director of the Institute for European Urban Studies at the Bauhaus-University Weimar, topos (July 19, 2022) (online journal)

KEYWORDS
visual culture, global cities, megalopolis (megacities), urban imaginary, spatial language, the West

IMAGES
See Lisa’s PDF

MAOIST CHINA, 1949–1976

WEEK 2. Tiananmen Square & Socialist Realism

Jan 13 Tiananmen Square

BLOG 2.0: draw a map of Tiananmen Square as it looked in the 1960s and early 1970s  and consider how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) transformed an ideal vision of the city from the feudal past (i.e., the Qing dynasty 1644–1911 and earlier) into an emblem of the socialist present; post this and all other blog assignments by 10 pm on the night before class meets. Please post the map. No need to write anything for this blog assignment.

FOR DISCUSSION, READ

Wu Hung, Remaking Beijing, 15–42 para that begins “The 1989 student movement” (PDF or main reserve NA 9072 B45 T539 2005);

optional Peter Rowe and Seng Kuan, “Struggles with Modernism,” in Architectural Encounters with Essence and Form in Modern China, ed. Peter Rowe (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2002), 106–35 (electronic reserve)

IMAGES
Beijing’s Ten Great Buildings

Jan 15 Socialist Realism: Censorship in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction 1950s –1960s

FOR DISCUSSION, READ
Wu Hung, Remaking Beijing (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006), 171 bottom para–182 (PDF or main reserve NA 9072 B45 T539 2005)

optional Leah Dickerman, “Camera Obscura: Socialist Realism in the Shadow of Photography,” October 93 (Summer 2000): 138–53 (electronic journal).

optional Jerome Silbergeld, “Art Censorship in Socialist China: A Do–It–Yourself System,” in Suspended License, ed. Elizabeth Childs University of Washington Press, 1997), 299–332 (main reserve N 8740 S87 1997)

KEYWORDS
socialist realism (versus social realism), censorship

IMAGES
Dong Xiwen (b.. 1914 Shaoxing),The Founding of the Nation. 董希文《开国大典》
Sun Zixi (b.1929  Longbow, Shandong) ,Standing in front of Tiananmen (1964) 孙滋溪《天安门前》
The Great Leap Forward 大跃进 (1958-61)
Cultural Revolution (1966-76) posters 文化大革命海报与宣传画

WEEK 3. Chairman Mao and the Square, 1966–1990

Jan 20 Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) Anti–City Ideology in Posters and Paintings

FOR DISCUSSION, READ
Rem Koolhaas, ed., Pearl River Delta: Great Leap Forward (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2001), 46–61.

Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being tr. Henry Heim (New York: Faber, 1984), 248-261 (PDF)

KEYWORDS
Communist kitsch, avante–garde, anti-city ideology

IMAGES
see websites dedicated to Cultural Revolution on the MODERN CHINA page of Lisa’s website https://www.lisa-claypool.ca/china-modern, particularly those featuring Cultural Revolution posters (search for “Cultural Revolution” or “poster”).

Jan 22 Mao Fever (毛热) and the Square

BLOG 3.0 post to the blog an image of Mao dating from the late 1980s to the early 1990s that captures your attention and interest and come prepared to talk about how it changes understanding of Mao and/or the Square/public space. You can draw from the Dal Lago article or Wu Hung reading directly, choose an artist either author mentions and search for new images on his/her/their websites at https://www.lisa-claypool.ca/china-now, or do your own browsing online. No need for prose.

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Francesa dal Lago, “Personal Mao: Reshaping an Icon in Contemporary Chinese Art,” Art Journal 58, no. 2 (Summer, 1999): 46–59. AVAILABLE ONLINE through the U of A Library website. Search for the eJournal title in the library catalogue, then for the article title.

Wu Hung, Remaking Beijing, 183–208 (PDF or main reserve NA 9072 B45 T539 2005

We will screen a clip from the documentary GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE in class. If you want to watch the entire documentary in English with Chinese subtitles click here; for the documentary in Chinese with Chinese subtitles click here; for the documentary in English click here for PART 1, and here for PART 2.

IMAGES
Li Shan 李山,Rouge Series
Wang Guangyi 王广义Art Asia Pacific video:http://vimeo.com/38326258 Chairman Mao AO, the triptych (around 4:50 in the video)
Yu Youhan 余友涵,Chairman Mao Talking with Peasants of Shaoshan
Wang Xingwei 王兴伟, PathTowards the East. Also called The Oriental Way: The Road to Anyuan, 1995. Oil on canvas.
Zhang Hongtu 张宏图, Material Mao http://www.momao.com/GO TO GALLERY 1, then to MATERIAL MAO (MeshMao, Quaker Oats, Ping Pong Mao)
Gao Brothers 高氏兄弟, 2009 underground exhibition

KEYWORDS
icon, iconoclasm, “Mao Hot”

POSTSOCIALIST CITIES, 1977–PRESENT

WEEK 4. City-ness
Jan 27. Non-places

BLOG 4.0 post an image of a NON–PLACE
FOR DISCUSSION, READ
Marc Augé, Non–Places, tr. John Howe (London, New York: Verso, 1995), 75–115 (main reserve GN 345 A92513 1995 and PDF)

ASSIGNMENT:: we will split this chapter into 3 parts, and each part will be the responsibility of the following groups to present and discuss. Isolate the main terms that Augé presents in your section, define them, and also decide what are the main questions he is asking (or answering) in your section. We will begin conference with small group sessions so that you can discuss your section with each other, and then end with informal presentations about terms and questions to the larger class. As part of this assignment, before conference, please upload to the blog a picture of a NON–PLACE.

PART 1 (pp 75–86):

PART 2 (pp 87–101 1st para):

PART 3 (pp 101 2d para–115): 

Jan 29. The Plastic City

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Joshua Goldstein, "The Sixth Element," ecoArt China catalogue (Edmonton: Art & Design, 2021), download the catalogue from the exhibition website and read pp 32-39.

optional readings
Amanda Boetzkes, Plastic Capitalism: Contemporary Art and the Drive to Waste (MIT Press, 2019), 177-195 (PDF)

Lawrence Buell, "Space, Place, and Imagination from Local to Global" in The Future of Environmental Criticism (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2005), excerpt pp. 63-71. (eBook)

IMAGES
Song Dong 宋冬 (b. 1966 Beijing), The Wisdom of the Poor (2005-06) and other work
Yao Lu 姚璐 (b. 1967), see artworks in ecoArt China exhibition
Edward Burtynsky (b. 1955 Toronto)
Wang Qingsong 王庆松 (b. 1966)
Slavoj Zizek, “Examined Life: Philosophy is in the streets”

WEEK 5. GHOST CITIES

Feb 3 Three Gorges: The Displaced City

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Melissa Chiu, “Ghosts, Three Gorges, and Ink: An Interview with Yun Fei–ji,” in Yun Fei–ji: The Empty City (St Louis: Contemporary Art Museum, 2004), 78– 91. (PDF).

Wu Hung, ed., Displacement: The Three Gorges Dam (Chicago: Smart Gallery, 2008), read catalogue entries on Liu Xiadong, Chen Qiulin (PDF or main reserve N 7345.6 W84 2008)

IMAGES
Yun–Fei Ji 季云飞 (b. 1963 in Beijing, based in Brooklyn, NY)
Chen Qiulin 陈秋林 (b. 1975, Chengdu, Sichuan)
Liu Xiaodong 刘小东 (b. 1963, Beijing)

Feb 5 The Copycat City

BLOG 5.0 Post a photo of a copycat city or structure from anywhere in the world. No need for prose.

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Bianca Bosker, Original Copies: Architectural Mimcry in China (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2013), ch 1 "Into the Land..." (t; (eBook through Hathitrust)

Eugene K. Show, "Dream Town’: China’s Charming Villages," The Diplomat (December 20, 2017)

optional Wade Shepherd, Ghost Cities of China: The Story of cities without people in the world's most populated country (London: Zed Books, 2015), CHAPTER 3 "Of New Cities and Ghost Cities" (eBook)

IMAGES
Thames Town, the 18 Eiffel towers in China

KEYWORDS
originality, appropriation, ghost cities, shanzhai, copycat

WEEK 6. SUSTAINABLE CITIES

Feb 10 The Sustainable City

BLOG 6.0 post a photograph of a built structure or a plan that embodies one aspect of sustainable design in China

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Ma Qingyun, "Land will do well. Land can do well," The Social Imperative: Architecture and the City in China, ed. H. Koon Wee (Actar, 2017), 100-104. (PDF forthcoming)

“A City without Leftovers: A Conversation with Ma Qingyun,” by Stephen Wright, in Shanghai Kalediscope, ed. Christopher Phillips (Toronto: ICC at the ROM, 2008) 30–39. (PDF)

optional Michael Palwyn, “Using Nature’s Genius in Architecture” (TED talk, 13:46 min)

optional  Serge Salat, The sustainable design handbook : China : high environmental quality cities and buildings (Cedex, France: CSTB, 2006).

optional Zhang Hongxing, ed., China Design Now catalogue (London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 2008), 129–76.(main reserve NK 1483 A1 C45 2008).

IMAGES
Ma Qingyun/MADA s.p.a.m. (based in Los Angeles, Shanghai),

We may also exlore buildings by I.M. Pei, Pei Cobb Freed and Partners Suzhou Museum (based in New York), by Yung Ho Chang Feichang jianzhu atelier (based in Beijing, Shanghai), and by Zhu Pei, Studio Pei-Zhu (based in Beijing)

KEY WORDS
ecocriticism, space versus place, designoloper, sustainable architecture, metabolic architecture

Feb 12 Feminist + LGBTQIA+ Cities

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Stephanie Bailey, “Yin Xiuzhen: A Material World, Yishu 12, no. 2 (March–April 2013): 50–59 (PDF)

Stijn Deklerck, "Chinese LGBT+ Activism – Playing, Organizing and Playful Resistance," China's Youth Cultures and Collective Resistance, eds. Vanessa Frangville, Gwennäel Gaffric (New York: Routledge, 2020), 150-169 (eBook)

optional Tingting Liu, "The empowerment of rural migrant lalas: Contending queerness and heteronormativity in China," China Information 29, no. 2 (2019): 165-184 (eJournal)

optional Rachel Leng, "Queer Reflections and Recursion in Homoerotic Bildungsroman," Ghost Protocal: Development and Displacement in Global China, eds. Carlo Rojas, Ralph Litzinger (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016), (eBook)

IMAGES
Lin Tianmiao 林天苗 (b. 1961) 
Yin Xiuzhen 尹秀珍(b. 1963 Beijing), Commune (2008), see also video
Xing Danwen 邢丹文 (b. 1967 Xi'an)
Xiyadie 西亚蝶 (b. 1963)

KEYWORDS
gender binaries, activist art, urban youth culture

WEEK 7 READING WEEK

WEEK 8 WORKSHOPS

BLOG 7.0 post the three objects that are the focus of your exhibition proposal by 7 pm on

Monday, along with the 1–page exhibition proposal. See the Assignments PDF for discussion of what writing a proposal entails. During this week and next, please review the exhibition proposals scheduled for review before conference, and come prepared to discuss them with two questions or comments about each one. Workshopping the proposals is intended to help each of you refine and focus your thinking about your projects, to pool knowledge, and to give you a forum for seeking clarification about concepts and exhibition strategies.

Feb 24 Proposals, bibliography workshop (6 proposals)

Feb 26 Proposals, bibliography workshop (6 proposals)

WEEK 9 WORKSHOPS

Mar 3 CLASS WITHDRAWN FOR ELECTIONS

Mar 5 Proposals, bibliography workshop (6 proposals)

WEEK 10 CITY STREETS

Mar 10 The Dérive and the City of Guangzhou

FOR DISCUSSION READ
interview with Chen Shaoxiong in CCAA 1998–2002 (PDF)

Guy Debord, “Theory of the Dérive,” in Visual Culture: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, eds. Joanne Morra and Novquard Smith (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 3: 77–81. (PDF)

optional Zhang Zhen, “Dream–walking in digital wasteland: Observations on the uses of black and white in Chinese independent documentary,” Journal of Chinese Cinemas 6, no. 3 (2012): excerpt 299–304. journal available online

optional Xin Wang, “Seeing and Disbelieving: Chen Shaoxiong’s Ink Animation Videos,” in Modern Art Asia Selected Papers Issues 1–8, edited by Majella Munro (West Sussex: Enzo Arts and Publishing, June 2012), pp. 213–224.

IMAGES
Chen Shaoxiong 陈劭雄 (b. 1962)
Cao Fei 曹斐 “Sanyuanli” on Youtube

Mar 12 Logomania and the City

BLOG 8.0 post your thoughts on where one might find a heterotopia in a city and/or a photograph of a heterotopia

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Caitlin Bruce, "Public Surfaces Beyond the Great Wall: Communication and Graffiti Culture in China," Invisible Culture no. 15 (Fall 2010): excerpt "Graffiti - M50/Moganshan Road 116-124 (eJournal and PDF labeled SPECTACLE EAST ASIA)

Michel Foucault, “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias,” in Rethinking Architecture: A Reader in Cultural Theory, ed. Neil Leach (London and New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 350–56 (PDF or electronic resource)

optional David Clarke, “The Culture of a Border Within: Hong Kong Art and China,” Art Journal 59, no. 2 (Summer 2000): 80–101. (JSTOR electronic datatbase)

optional Minna Valjakka, "Negotiating spatial politics: Site-responsive urban art images in mainland China," China Information 29, no. 2 (2015): excerpt 261-275. (eJournal)

IMAGES
King of Kowloon (Hong Kong), anonymous graffiti artists

KEYWORDS
utopia, heterotopia, graffiti culture

WEEK 11 The State and the City

Mar 17 Happy Cities: The 2008 Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai Expo

BLOG 9.0 Google images of the Beijing 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremony (or videos) and post one to the blog. No prose necessary.

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Lisa Claypool, “Boundary Forms: Calligraphy and the City at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.” International Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 27, no. 3 (September 2014): 273–289 (available online through library database)

IMAGES
Cai Guo-Qiang 蔡国强 (b. 1957)
Ai Weiwei 艾未未
Google 2008 Olympics and 2010 Shanghai Expo

Mar 19 Migrant Cities

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Eric Florence, "Struggling around the politics of recognition: The formation of communities of interpetations and of emotions among a collective of migrant workers in twenty-first century China," China's Youth Cultures and Collective Resistance, eds. Vanessa Frangville, Gwennäel Gaffric (New York: Routledge, 2020), 170-186 (eBook)

IMAGES
Wei Leng Tay
Jia Zhangke 贾樟柯 (b. 1970)

KEYWORDS
keywords: migrant, immigrant, floating population/city, boundaries, violence

WEEK 12 CITIES IN MOTION

Mar 24 The Urban Generation

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Xiaopin Lin, “The Video Works of Yang Fudong,” CHAPTER 8 of Children of Marx and Coca–Cola: Chinese Avant–Garde Art and Independent Cinema (Honolulu: University of Hawaii, 2010), 165–85. AVAILABLE ONLINE through Rutherford Library EBSCOHost. Please read pp. 165, 172–83.

IMAGES
Yang Fudong 杨福东 (b. 1971 Shanghai) We’ll screen one of the parts of SEVEN INTELLECTUALS IN A BAMBOO FOREST
Republican-era calendar prints 月份牌

see website dedicated to Xintiandi, a redeveloped Shanghai shikumen “stone gate” tenement. Yang Fudong’s video that we will screen in class is filmed in a shikumen

Mar 26 Viral Cities

FOR DISCUSSION READ
Jean Baudrillard, “The Ecstasy of Communication” (1968), in Visual Culture: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, eds. Joanne Morra and Novquand Smith (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 3: 227–234. (PDF or main reserve Vol. 3. N 72 S6 V55 2006)

Lisa Claypool, “Revisiting the Technological Society: A Conversation with Feng Mengbo,” Yishu: The Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art12, no. 4 (July/August 2013): 69–76 (PDF Chinese and English versions available)

IMAGES
Feng Mengbo 冯梦波 (b. 1966) (Not too late; Long March Restart)
Li Yan 李演 (b. 1977)
Xie Xiaoze 谢晓泽 (b. 1966)
Cao Fei 曹斐, exhibition of her avatar from RMB CIty at the Museum in Progress (2022)

WEEK 13 WORKSHOP

Mar 31 in-class work on launching Google Arts & Cultures project

Apr 2 in-class work on launching Google Arts & Cultures project

WEEK 14 Class symposium: discussion of themes, issues, new questions

Apr 7 Course wrap-up; review of exhibitions

Apr 9 Course wrap-up

BLOG 10.0 post one of your favourite images from the course (outside of your project) and come prepared to talk about it

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