Xing Danwen’s Urban Fiction

I am intrigued by Xing Danwen‘s ongoing project “Urban Fiction”, which was started in 2004. Danwen graduated from SVA’s MFA program in 2001...

I am intrigued by Xing Danwen‘s ongoing project “Urban Fiction”, which was started in 2004. Danwen graduated from SVA’s MFA program in 2001, but her work is new to me. She’s interested in cultural narratives and the friction created by globalization and the proliferation of new urban constructions. For this project she’s photographed actual architectural maquettes of buildings that are being created in China, and has then inserted herself within them, as different “characters”. They feel a little Rear Window, a little Casebere. And a lot dollhouse. All the following quotes (in italics) are from Danwen’s artist statement.

The sculptural form of these new residential buildings, the floor plan
of the apartments, and the various interior designs are all related to
the inhabitants and their “individual” taste and needs. The
models of these new living spaces are perfect and clean and beautiful
but they are also so empty and detached of human drama. When you take
these models and begin to add real life–even a single drop of it–so
much changes.

This entire body of work is playful and
fictitious, wandering between reality and fantasy. All the figures in
this series are images of me, playing different characters. This
creates another paradox: “I” am real but at the same time “I” am
unreal. The figures act out totally imaginative roles as part of
different plots and in different spaces that I visualize when I look at
these models. For example, “I” am sometimes a white-collar office
worker brought to despair by job pressures and spiritual emptiness.
Sometimes “I” am a materialistic woman enjoying a life of pleasure and
dissipation. Or “I” am a young girl who has accidentally killed her
lover in a mood of anger. Together the resulting pictures compose the
episodes of the urban
fiction.

Globalization is reshaping our urban environment and our vision of life,
as the “new” constantly replaces the “old.” Private
living spaces expand with the growth of income but the city becomes more
dense and fills up with modern buildings and high-rise towers. People
live in cubes that are squeezed next to one another, separated only by
thin walls. This physical proximity, instead of leading to greater closeness
and intimacy between people, can often create psychological distance and
loneliness.

The idea of this work was forged when I was traveling around Europe by
train in 2003. After being in so many cities in the world, I realized
that globalization has made urban landscapes everywhere similar and blurred
the boundaries between them. So often, “here” can be anywhere.
I have brought my vision and perspective to these urban spaces.

These images represent the state of urban life today. In our childhood,
skyscrapers were buildings that we had to raise our head to look at. Now
we can imagine our future by bending down to examine tiny models of buildings.
This, perhaps, is another image of modern life.