A collaboration between Hong Kong based non-profit organisations, POP-UP Studio-X Shenzhen, and the Value Factory at the Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) in Shenzhen.
 
This one-day programme seeks to explore social, cultural and economic networks in the production and shaping of spatial narratives at the Value Factory of the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture in Shenzhen.

As a platform for discussion on art, architecture, and urbanism, ‘Engaging locality and the cultural networks of the Pearl River Delta,’ examines the contexts of venues like the Value Factory, a rehabilitated float glass factory in Shekou, Shenzhen, as well as other sites of cultural regeneration. This event seeks to unpack notions of gentrification by looking at models of cultural production and activist practice through a network of practitioners, scholars, and academics from different disciplines.


SCREENING – PART I
12.30-2.10pm (Auditorium):
Introduction by Qinyi Lim (Curator, Para Site)

Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin (89 min)
Written and directed by Charlie Chaplin, this silent film was and still seen as a critical commentary on the labor, employment and fiscal conditions subjected on people in the modern, industrialized world that surfaced in the shadow of the Great Depression.

TOUR
1.00-1.30pm (meeting point at Studio-X):
Tour of Value Factory at the Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) in Shenzhen

PANEL DISCUSSION
2.30-4.00pm (Auditorium):
Welcome and Introduction by Marisa Yiu (Curator, POP-UP Studio-X Shenzhen & Assistant Professor, School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)

This discussion will consider the recent history and development of economic and cultural policies in the Pearl River Delta region. Taking into consideration recent cultural projects, this panel seeks to explore questions of sustainability and formation of creative spaces in a capitalistic context and the commodification of cultural industries both past and present. This discussion will look upon the definitions of preservation, renewal of heritage sites, and their links to gentrification. It questions whom this renewal is for and the assumption of historical amnesia upon which such renewal hinges.

Ole Bouman is a Dutch architecture specialist, and is the Creative Director of the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (Shenzhen).
Lu Hong is an artist and curator, and is the Artistic Director of the Shenzhen Art Museum.
Carol Yinghua Lu is a curator and art critic, and the Art Director at OCT Contemporary Art Terminal.
Moderator: Koon Yeewan is Associate Professor in the department of Fine Arts at Hong Kong University.
Respondents: Eddie Lui Fung-Ngar is an artist, and the Project Advisor of the Ink Society and Jun Wang Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Policy at City University of  Hong Kong.


SCREENING – PART II
4.00-4.30pm (Auditorium):
Introduction by Lydia Chan (Programme Manager, The Ink Society)

Whose Utopia, Cao Fei (22min)
Whose Utopia locates itself on the lives of workers at the Osram lighting factory in the Pearl River Delta region. Filmed over a period of six months, Cao's film fuses the everyday mechanized experiences of the factory with the individualized performances of the workers, illuminating their silent aspirations.

CASE STUDIES
4.30-6.00pm (Studio-X in Main Hall):
Introduction by Chantal Wong (Strategy and Special Projects, Asia Art Archive)

Taking locality as the starting point, each of the case studies inhabits the creative industry and economy while heeding the needs and wants of the local. This discussion seeks to explore the underlying exigency behind their practices, questioning the use of craft in a time when it is widely romanticised, the communities to which these case studies speak, and the longstanding effects of their practices.

Jianxing He is a Founding Partner at O-office Architects, which focuses on Southern Chinese urbanity as a research and a design topic.
Keith Lam is an artist and Founder of Dimension Plus, a creative team focused on new media-embedded space and cross-discipline interactive design.
Marina Otero Verzier is an architect and researcher with a focus on geopolitics and contemporary cultures of circulation. She is the Director of global programming at Studio-X New York.
Eric Schuldenfrei is a Founding Partner of ESKYIU and Associate Professor in the faculty of architecture at Hong Kong University. His work explores the relationship between architecture, animation, technology, and art.
Zheng Guogu is an artist. His practice, encompassing architecture, design, and photography, reacts to the social and economic shifts happening in China.


Venue: The Value Factory at the Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) in Shenzhen.
The venue is at Shekou Port. People travelling from Hong Kong can take a ferry from Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal to Shekou. From the Shekou Port Passenger Ferry Terminal take bus no. 226 (direction Chiwan) at the bus stop across the street from the Shekou Port Passenger Ferry Terminal to the Glass Factory (the third stop). Click here for more information.
 
Language: English (Chinese simultaneous interpretation will be provided).


This event is organised by The School of Architecture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Asia Art Archive, Para Site, The Ink Society and Hong Kong Arts Festival in collaboration with POP-UP Studio-X Shenzhen and The Value Factory at the Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) in Shenzhen.

For more information on the Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) in Shenzhen click here.