Assignment #4
The fourth individual assignment was about finding a building in the city onto which it would be of particular interest to project.
I found my building as I was strolling around the Jing’an Temple during a rare sunny day. As one could expect, there were no signs in English and hence I had to rely on what I remember from my high school about Buddhism. The only leaflet I was given was my ticket so I decided to check if there is anything in English. There was a summary of the history of the Temple with quite shocking lines reading “However, the temple could not escape from its bad day. It was turned into a plastics factory during the Cultural Revolution (…).” Firstly, it is quite shocking that such thing could have happened. Secondly, it is surprising that the Cultural Revolution is now referred to as as a bad day this openly.
I was not able to find nearly any information about the factory transformation. Not even a picture. Which is ultimately linked to the way the Cultural Revolution is perceived in today’s China. It was as early as 1981 when the Party announced the tragic consequences of the Cultural Revolution. However, from my understanding the party never acknowledged Mao Zedong’s role as an architect of the revolution and the main responsible person. Thus, without going into details, the Cultural Revolution remains covered in clouds.
Building
The building I chose is a tower visible pretty much from any spot in the JIng’an complex. It’s simplistic architecture would make for an easy transformation into a billboard-like structure. Its name is Wheelock Square and belongs to the tallest structure in Shanghai. Being placed in otherwise lower neighbourhood it is easily visible, located by a rush street, and opposite one of the major tourist attractions.
Projection
It seems that openly discussing the Revolution remains a taboo. However, even the Party would agree that turning the temple into a factory was not the greatest idea (it was, after all, reverted). The projection could thus serve at least as a reminder not to repeat the same mistake. While it would point out to a specific historic event, it would naturally symbolize the overall outcomes of the Cultural Revolution. My idea would be to project illustration of production lines, pollution, child labour (all connected with the plastics production) as an extension of the Temple. Originally I envisioned more information-based projection, however, the current legal environment would not make that possible. The usage of such a modern skyscraper full of financial and business offices points out to the fact that China has made significant progress in developing itself as a lucrative market, however, a corresponding transformation has not happened in every aspect of the society and politics. In fact, to highlight the irony, propagandistic anti-capitalistic posters could be projected as well.
