JIANGNAN AVENUE

This project is based on the triple connections between teeth, buildings, and the urban landscape, namely, the connection between veneers for dental restoration and plastic surgery and a building's exterior facade, the connection between tooth arrangement and the landscape of urban roads, and the connection between the development of urban architecture and tooth restoration. With tools such as installations, behavior and videos, I expressed my skepticism of the haphazard mode of urban transformation and the excessively homogenized urban space. In addition, I also invited urban dwellers to my exhibition, participating in discussions on how cities will develop in the future.

Jiangnan Avenue, in southern Hangzhou, is the city's facade, dubbed by Hangzhou Daily. However, when seeing its orderly, yet uninspiring building landscape that surrounded this rapidly expanding freeway, I was stunned. The days were gone when this street was occupied by numerous "underdeveloped" self-built houses during the past two decades before they were razed to the ground. Now, it has picked up a novel modern look and embraced other facilities for two key reasons - a regional planning policy and the organization of a major sports event.

I question the simplistic urban development model and the extremely homogenized urban landscape through a strong visual effect, which is to blow up the model combining teeth and architecture, and I have also invited urban residents to jointly envision the future of urban development.

©JIACHEN SHEN

2020-2024