Manifesto for a Design Proposal (Version 2)
The area of Cai Wu Wei
and the city of Shenzhen are in parallel development through the urban
history of physical and political change. Cei Wu Wei is one of the
original locations of urban villages that accommodates new migrants in the city, since the time that Shenzhen began to develop. Today, the area is active 24hrs, serving daily activities of both inhabitants in the village, and visitors who come for public leisure and utility. Thus, this specific space
is a local and vibrant part of what is now Shenzhen's financial district.
The initiation of a cultural and performance space specific to
the site of Cei Wu Wei is inspired by the cultural, political and physical
changes analyzed in Shenzhen. As the originating point, the space will act
as a statement of cultural identity of Shenzhen through the doctrine of
the contemporary situations of social and economic transformation of Shenzhen,
and China as a whole.
The process of thinking requires a selection of performance to become a
guideline statement and uses it as a communication tool to evoke public
audiences. The theatre should stand as a cultural representation and
monument to the storyline of Shenzhen's transformation.
Out of the varied art forms of China from the ancient to the
contemporary, each individually cultivates experiences of the nation's stand
through the expressions from dramatic acts, dance movement, music, verses and
atmospheric scenes which in total create the successful and influential
performance.
'The Red Detachment of Women' is one of the
national pieces from the Communist Cultural era and is a model of a
historic-contemporary theatrical ballet that speaks from a nationalistic viewpoint. Ironically and ambiguously, its content
also corresponds to the situation of the political ownership of lands
specific to the land of Cei Wu Wei, which awaits another page of
transformation, which will or will not have impacts to the urban and social
activity changes in the area. This performance will bear the message
to public audiences to understand the contemporary change to their
neighborhood and also provide education to the historical and contemporary
change in these modern times of living in one of the fast growing cities in China.
In this proposal, the performance space will act as public theatrical
venue that will hold the adapted performance of 'The Red Detachment of
Women' in the contemporary context of
Shenzhen. The main performance will act as the city's signature piece to
speak for its original cultural beliefs regarding the social and
political orders, in comparison to modern-day existing conditions, which are still ambiguous. This cultural and performance space will hold
experimental theatrical spaces to open opportunities for other local and international performance
artists to participate in the collaboration of creative expression of the social and political situations, nationally and globally. The venue will also activate through its vibrant livelihood
of public venues and facilities; cafes, restaurants, shops that
cohesively link the surrounding exuberant urban developments.
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