Reclaiming China in Denmark

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Reclaiming China in Denmark

Chinese architect Wang Shu was awarded the most distinguished architectural honor, the Pritzker Prize, in 2012 for his ability to create architecture. “The Architect’s Studio” at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen focuses on Chinese architect Wang Shu (b. 1963).

The Architect’s Studio is a new series of Louisiana exhibitions focusing on a new generation of pace-setting and prize-winning architects. The series intends to show developments among contemporary architects whose sustainable and socially aware practices take on the challenges of globalization. The first exhibition of this series focuses on Chinese architect Wang Shu.

Reclaiming China in Denmark
Wang Shu and his wife Lu Wenyu

Wang Shu and his wife Lu Wenyu stand at the head of the Amateur Architecture Studio based in Hangzhou in China. The name of the studio underscores the vision of letting spontaneity, the available materials and local culture and building traditions form the basis for architecture which in Wang Shu’s own words should be “a house rather than a building”.

The specific design of the exhibition is being created in collaboration with Amateur Architecture, and besides presenting selected projects will include a more general introduction to traditional Chinese culture and philo­sophy as declared sources of inspiration for Wang Shu. In addition Amateur Architecture’s installation At The Parallel Scene from the 2016 Venice Biennale will form part of the exhibition.

Reclaiming China in Denmark
Selected projects will include a more general introduction to traditional Chinese culture and philo­sophy

At a time when China’s explosive urbanization is making inroads into the rural areas and leaving the marks of cheap concrete construction everywhere, Wang Shu and Amateur Architecture are keen to work against this tendency by re-using materials from the buildings that the Chinese authorities are systematically tearing down and rebuilding after western models.

The practice that typifies Amateur Architecture thus emphasizes simple functionality over spectacular form, restoration over new construction, tradition over modernism. With projects like the Ningbo History Museum and the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Amateur Architecture insists on directing attention towards Chinese history, philosophy, landscape and culture. This implies distancing themselves from the influence of western culture, which in China, too, is a clear consequence of globalization.

Wang Shu was awarded the most distinguished architectural honor, the Pritzker Prize, in 2012 for his ability to create architecture, “opens new horizons while at the same time resonates with place and memory.” The prize jury noted, that his buildings have the unique ability to evoke the past, without making direct references to history. and that his architecture is exemplary in its strong sense of cultural continuity and re-invigorated tradition.

Reclaiming China in Denmark
Wang Shu opens new horizons while at the same time resonates with place and memory

“He calls his office Amateur Architecture Studio,” the jury citation stated, “but the work is that of a virtuoso in full command of the instruments of architecture—form, scale, material, space and light. The 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize is given to Wang Shu for the exceptional nature and quality of his executed work, and also for his ongoing commitment to pursuing an uncompromising, responsible architecture arising from a sense of specific culture and place.”

Reclaiming China in Denmark
The 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize is given to Wang Shu for the exceptional nature and quality of his executed work

For several years Louisiana has presented major thematic exhibitions on architecture, culture, identity such as LIVING, New Nordic and AFRICA. With The Architect’s Studio, a series of monographic exhibition, the musuem sets off from an earlier series shown 1998-2005. The focus then was on prestige projects of so-called ‘starchitects’ like Norman Foster, Frank Gehry and Jean Nouvel.

The aim of this new series is to trace the development in architecture since that time. How does a new generation of pace-setting architects work? What are their concerns, their challenges, what do they have in common? How do they respond to globalization, the environment, social problems? To be shown the the next couple of years, this series will include among others Alejandro Aravena from Chile (winner of the 2016 Pritzker Prize) and Tatiana Bilbao from Mexico.

Reclaiming China in Denmark, source: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Related: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Copenhagen

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Journalist, PR and marketing consultant Tor Kjolberg has several degrees in marketing management. He started out as a marketing manager in Scandinavian companies and his last engagement before going solo was as director in one of Norway’s largest corporations. Tor realized early on that writing engaging stories was more efficient and far cheaper than paying for ads. He wrote hundreds of articles on products and services offered by the companies he worked for. Thus, he was attuned to the fact that storytelling was his passion.