Between Past and Future
Zhang Dali
Zhang Dali, Demolition: World Financial Center, Beijing (1998). Zhang Dali’s work traces the course of Beijing’s massive urban transformation of the past decade. Identifying buildings that are scheduled for demolition, he spray paints graffiti-style heads on their walls and later uses a chisel to knock out a similarly shaped void. The photographs that he makes of these scenes emphasize the dramatic contrast between the vanishing and the emerging architecture of the Chinese capital.
Zhang Dali
Liu Zheng
credits
In the past two decades, China’s urban life has been completely transformed. A massive building program has created sprawling skyscraper cities, and at the same time tens of thousands of city dwellers have been displaced from the inner city to the outskirts. These conditions have brought about a growing alienation between the city and its residents: they no longer belong to each other. The works in this section both reflect and respond to the new textures of China’s metropolitan culture.
Asia Society History and Memory Reimaging the Body People and Place Performing the Self International Center of Photography
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