CHANG YUNG-HO
The architect Chang Yung-ho assimilates Western architectural ideas into traditional Chinese architectural philosophy. He founded his workshop, Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, in 1992, when China was embarking on its rapid process of urbanization. He believes that architectural design should be closely combined with local customs, popular attitudes and the living environment, and should not simply mimic Western practice.
As the curator Hou Hanru has stated, Chang "examines and analyzes the phenomenon of urban expansion in contemporary China with a critical eye ... constantly mindful of the true state of urban existence." Chang stresses that an architect, much like an artist, should maintain an acute insight into his or her corporeal experiences and environment, observing life minutely and deeply, researching the details and the meaning of people's activities, and closely examining the relationship between these activities and the environments they create or require. He has collaborated with artists in several major international exhibitions, including the show Cities on the Move (1997-1999), for which he designed an exhibition space that replicated the experience of a crowded Asian city. In Ke Da Ke Xiao (1998) he based two-dimensional designs around three Chinese characters in an attempt to recreate the traditional spatial layout of Beijing.
The symbolism and meaning of material has always occupied an important position in Chang's works. For example, four different brands of cameras and the cultures of their country of origin served as the concept for the show Camera (2003), for which he designed four exhibition spaces from four different types of materials.
For his specially commissioned biennial project, Chang has restructured the lobby, corridors and other spaces of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum according to Camera, meaning room in Latin and the photographic apparatus in English,... an interdisciplinary exhibition about architecture and film/video...which intends to bring people into the exhibition so that they are seeing and to be seen at the same time. The installation design breaks the convention of the dark box for showing video/film in museums." (1)-A.C.
http://www.archleague.org/lectures/scales/yung.html
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9908/msg00095.html
http://www.kateigaho.com/int/mar04/architect-chang.html
http://announce.curtin.edu.au/release2001/c5701.htm
http://bmoca.kinmen.gov.tw/news_10.html
http://www.forgemind.net/diary/2003/2003-10/2003-10-02.htm
Born 1965 in Beijing, China
Lives and works in Beijing, China, and Boston, United States
Camera, 2004
Installation in the Lobby, paper, wood
Installation in the Lobby, paper, wood
Camera, 2004
Exhibition design, paper, wood
Courtesy the artist
Exhibition design, paper, wood
Courtesy the artist
The architect Chang Yung-ho assimilates Western architectural ideas into traditional Chinese architectural philosophy. He founded his workshop, Atelier Feichang Jianzhu, in 1992, when China was embarking on its rapid process of urbanization. He believes that architectural design should be closely combined with local customs, popular attitudes and the living environment, and should not simply mimic Western practice.
As the curator Hou Hanru has stated, Chang "examines and analyzes the phenomenon of urban expansion in contemporary China with a critical eye ... constantly mindful of the true state of urban existence." Chang stresses that an architect, much like an artist, should maintain an acute insight into his or her corporeal experiences and environment, observing life minutely and deeply, researching the details and the meaning of people's activities, and closely examining the relationship between these activities and the environments they create or require. He has collaborated with artists in several major international exhibitions, including the show Cities on the Move (1997-1999), for which he designed an exhibition space that replicated the experience of a crowded Asian city. In Ke Da Ke Xiao (1998) he based two-dimensional designs around three Chinese characters in an attempt to recreate the traditional spatial layout of Beijing.
The symbolism and meaning of material has always occupied an important position in Chang's works. For example, four different brands of cameras and the cultures of their country of origin served as the concept for the show Camera (2003), for which he designed four exhibition spaces from four different types of materials.
For his specially commissioned biennial project, Chang has restructured the lobby, corridors and other spaces of the Taipei Fine Arts Museum according to Camera, meaning room in Latin and the photographic apparatus in English,... an interdisciplinary exhibition about architecture and film/video...which intends to bring people into the exhibition so that they are seeing and to be seen at the same time. The installation design breaks the convention of the dark box for showing video/film in museums." (1)-A.C.
http://www.archleague.org/lectures/scales/yung.html
http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9908/msg00095.html
http://www.kateigaho.com/int/mar04/architect-chang.html
http://announce.curtin.edu.au/release2001/c5701.htm
http://bmoca.kinmen.gov.tw/news_10.html
http://www.forgemind.net/diary/2003/2003-10/2003-10-02.htm