9. November 2023
Photo: TAL+Baiyu (All photographs courtesy of MAD)
Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion opened in late September at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MoCAUP) in Shenzhen, China, presenting a retrospective of MAD’s output over the span of nearly two decades. It is also notable as the first solo architecture exhibition at MoCAUP since the building, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au, opened in 2016.
Although MAD's work has been exhibited numerous times since Ma Yansong founded the studio in 2004, Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion comprises its most comprehensive and “critical” exhibition, in their words. Open from September 29 to December 17, the exhibition presents 52 MAD projects across four thematic sections: “Dialogue,” “Progress,” “Feelings are Facts,” and “Rhapsody.” The four sections of the exhibition are presented below in brief descriptions and installation photographs.
Visitors to the exhibition first encounter a large round table that features more than 180 questions posed by architects formerly and currently employed at MAD. The questions — about everything from architecture and daily life, to dreams and the future — are meant to spur visitors to “engage in ongoing, extensive, and profound dialogues.”
View of Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
“Architecture and cities are not abstract scientific technologies but real settings where life unfolds. They represent feelings, ambience, and time. They carry traits of living beings; thus they are full of energy, flow, dynamism, and uncertainty. Architecture is alive, growing with the earth, endowed with life, rich in emotions, perceptive of time, and compassionate to everything. The goal of this exhibition is to use architecture as a conduit to explore cultural life, allowing us to probe our inner selves while observing the dynamic, diverse, and fluid cultural landscape of contemporary society.”
Ma Yansong, at right, in front of model of Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion.
Section I: Dialogue
“Can architecture reshape society’s boundaries?” “What defines a happy city?” “What will China’s cities resemble in the future?” This section presents seven urban public projects whose design philosophies are answers to these and other questions: Shenzhen Bay Culture Park, Harbin Opera House, FENIX Museum of Migration, Quzhou Sports Park, Yiwu Grand Theater, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, and Freedom (a public installation).
View of Section I, “Dialogue,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
Shenzhen Bay Culture Park in Section I, “Dialogue,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
Harbin Opera House in Section I, “Dialogue,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
FENIX Museum of Migration in Section I, “Dialogue,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
Quzhou Sports Park in Section I, “Dialogue,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Section I, “Dialogue,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
Section II: Progress
“The future city originates from the imagination of a diverse and dynamic urban reality.” This section shows a diverse range of MAD projects either completed or under construction: Zhongguancun Forum Congress Center, Hainan Science and Technology Museum, Jiaxing Train Station, and Absolute Towers.
View of Section II, “Progress,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
View of Section II, “Progress,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
Section III: Feelings are Facts
“Imagination generates from emotions toward a reality.” This section presents 15 design and land art projects, including the Tunnel of Light, Light, and Superstar. They showcase MAD's output beyond a medium of “typical” architecture.
View of Section III, “Feelings are Facts,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
View of Section III, “Feelings are Facts,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
Section IV: Rhapsody
“The work of MAD is like a rhapsody, representing a rebellious and critical attitude,” Ma Yansong states. “It also manifests an opposition to a generic pattern, goal, form, or language. I am intrigued by responding to the real world with diverse, genuine, and positive emotions.” This section presents a dozen projects, including Beijing 2050, Hutong Bubble, EAST 34th, and Floating Island, that together “form a living rhapsody about the city.”
View of Section IV, “Rhapsody,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
EAST 34th in “Rhapsody,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: Wang Xiaotian)
View of Section IV, “Rhapsody,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: TAL+Baiyu)
View of Section IV, “Rhapsody,” Ma Yansong: Landscapes in Motion. (Photo: Wang Xiaotian)
