Spring, Along Beijing Central Axis

Video Installation, currently on view (May-Nov 2025) at Venice Architecture Biennale
In collaboration with Yalun Li and Feiyue Chen

This project is a video installation currently on view at Venice Architecture Biennale 2025. It is a 3-min point-cloud based video of Beijing Central Axis* as a digital “Chinese landscape painting”. Embracing an eye-level perspective at the pace of walking throughout a spring time in the ancient Beijing City, data as lived life was collected, processed and montaged into imagery, flowing over a symmetrically folded LED screen with woven city soundscape. Of freshly blooming magnolias, of a little butterfly, of a group of grandpas playing chess in the park, of street vendors selling Tanghulus around the corner... Rejecting the usual grandiose gestures to depict significant historical sites as spectacles, this project embraces an intimate understanding of such historical sight as an important public space in citizen's everyday life.

*Beijing Central Axis is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a 7.8-kilometer line spanning north to south that historically organized the layout of ancient city of Beijing, dating back to 13th century. Along this axis lie key landmarks like the Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, and Drum Tower; as well as parks, lakes, local markets, residential areas (hutongs), etc. It is a testimony to an ancient urban planning philosophy - the harmony of nature and human (天人合一) - preserved and slowly refined over time.

Mapping of Walking Routes, Spring 2025

Special thanks to curator Ma Yansong and the great team of MAD (大冉，大飞，潘老师，优格，龙哥) ; to technical support of To0Space (Liu Xingchen, Yan Junpeng) and Tang Yishui