Preliminary Field Work
初步田野
初步田野
03/2023
danying
danying
In recent years, with the rapid pace of urban renewal in China, the number of urban village spaces has been decreasing annually. Whether these spaces are worth preserving and in what form they should be preserved has become an urgently pressing question. This research project, led by artistic practice, was initiated against this backdrop. It aims to utilize artistic methodologies to understand, document, and represent these unique, informal, and evolving urban spaces, as well as the everyday practices of residents, particularly the floating population, and their relationship with their living spaces. When navigating through these urban villages, observant individuals can discover how residents personalize and make the most of limited space, as well as how they ingeniously utilize everyday objects at hand. I am filled with curiosity about this folk wisdom and how these adaptive spaces operate within what may seem like a chaotic and disorderly environment.
近年来，在中国城市更新的迅猛势头下，城中村的空间数量逐年减少。这些空间是否值得被保留？以何种形式保留？成为迫切需要思考的问题。这个以艺术实践为主导的研究项目就在这个背景下启动，试图通过艺术媒介来了解、记录并再现这些别致、非正规、正在发生转变的城市空间以及居民（特别是流动人口）的日常生活实践和与居住空间的关系。当穿梭在城中村，有心人可以发现，住客们对有限空间的个性化利用和布置，物尽其用手边的日常物件。我对这些民间智慧感到好奇，这些适应性空间在看似混乱无序的状态下是按照怎样一种务实的逻辑在运转着？
The project originally aimed to immerse itself deeply in the urban villages of the Shanghai area, further extending the explorations I had undertaken during my undergraduate years. However, due to a gap of over two years, from late 2019 to early 2022, during which I did not stay updated on the situation of urban villages, I experienced a sense of detachment and disconnection in the early stages of the project. Despite having a general direction, I still had doubts about the feasibility of actual implementation. These concerns were partly rooted in the unfamiliarity with the location due to my prolonged absence. My impressions of Shanghai's urban villages were limited to images and memories preserved from past field visits. On the other hand, I couldn't gather much information from social news or social media, most of which were framed within official narratives and lacked diverse perspectives. However, what was evident from real-time reports is that urban villages across China have been undergoing unprecedented transformations in recent years.
项目最初旨在深入研究上海地区的城中村，以延续本科时期的探索。然而，由于中间有两年多的时间跨度，从2019年末至2022年初，我没有持续关注国内城中村的情况，因此在项目初期，我有一种疏离和脱节感。尽管有大致方向，但仍然对实际操作的可行性抱有疑虑。这种担忧部分源于长时间不在地所带来对地点的陌生感，对上海城中村的印象仅停留于过往实地考察时保存的图像与记忆片段。另一方面，我也无法从社会新闻或社交媒体上获得太多信息，其中多数是在官方叙事的框架内，缺乏多维视角。但能从实时报道中确定的是，中国各地区的城中村近年来正在经历力度空前的改造。
Therefore, I felt it necessary to re-enter the field of urban villages and gain an understanding of the latest developments. Do these places still retain their appearance from two years ago? What changes have taken place? What are the policies driving these changes? Have the local residents and floating population been affected? Driven by this sense of urgency, I returned to Shanghai in February this year and conducted fieldwork in some of the urban villages I had visited previously.
因此，我觉得有必要再次进入城中村，了解最新的情况。它们是否仍然保持着两年前的面貌？发生了怎样的变化？导致这些变化的政策是什么？本地居民和流动人口受到影响了吗？基于这份迫切，我在今年二月回到了上海，对部分以前去过的城中村进行了实地调查。
Haizhou Road, Yangpu District 海州路，杨浦区
Before returning to Shanghai, I drafted a fieldwork plan in London, listing several locations to visit. However, to my surprise, when I followed the original plan to visit these locations, I found that most of them had already been blocked off, or demolished. Huangpu, Hongkou, Yangpu, and other districts were bustling with renovation activities. When I reached a demolition site in Hongkou district, I asked a foreman who was inspecting the site why they were tearing those buildings down. He shook his head and simply said "The government want it demolished, so we need to do it." In Hongkou district, near the Línpíng Road subway station, a small "hidden" urban village still existed within a residential complex. However, the residents had already received demolition notices, and the walls were occupied with advertisements for buying second-hand homes and collective house viewings. During this visit, I encountered a local couple who were also planning their future housing arrangements. With their permission, we had a brief and impromptu conversation.
During this fieldwork, I mainly used analogue photography to capture the changes in these places, as it was one of the quickest and most direct means of documentation when facing unforeseen circumstances. I also want to experiment with the physicality of the negative when producing prints from them later. I photographed several urban village buildings that were on the verge of demolition, such as the "Patchwork House" on Gongjiazhai Road in Hongkou district, dating back to the 1960s. Due to constant repairs, its exterior facade resembled a collage, with evident traces of grassroots self-repair - patches on the roof, patches on the outer walls, and patches on the windows - juxtaposed with the original texture, resulting in a form that emerged from instinct rather than deliberate design. The ground floor of this building used to be a hardware store facing the street, where I purchased things in 2018. Reflecting on it now, I can't help but be astonished by the rapid pace of urban renewal. This reminded me of what David Harvey once said, "For us, the city is like an ever-changing map." The urban form we see at this very moment is just its current appearance.
在这次田野调查中，我主要用胶片影像来捕捉这些地方的变化，因为它们是在面对未曾预见的情况时，最快速且直接的记录方式，负片的质感也是我想要探索的一部分。我拍摄了一些即将拆除的城中村建筑，例如位于虹口区龚家宅路上建于1960年代左右的“补丁之家”，由于不断的修复，它的外立面呈拼贴状，见缝插针民间自修的痕迹 - 屋顶、外墙、窗户上都打着不同材料和处理方式的补丁，与原始肌理并置，形成一种出于本能而非有意设计的形态。这座建筑的底楼曾经是一家沿街的五金店，2018年我还曾在那里购买零件，现在再回想，只感叹城市更新速度之快。这让我想起大卫·哈维（David Harvey）曾说：“对于我们而言，城市就像一张不断变化的地图。” 我们此时此刻看到的城市形态，只是它此时此刻的模样。
