SZE TSUNG LEONG
In the last 10 years, the large-scale influx of global capital into China has spurred this ancient country into growth at a rapid pace rarely seen in the contemporary age. Economic development has dramatically changed the appearance of China's cities. As Leong mentions in his statement, old residential estates and the communities of previous eras are being instantaneously reduced to rubble, and the old sites turned into high-rise luxury apartments, office buildings and shopping centers. The expectations for the future expressed in the Cultural Revolutionary slogan, "Smash the Old World, Build the New World," are materializing, but ironically, Leong continues, what has brought about this transformation is not the Communist idealism of the Red Guards, but the inexorable rise of capitalism and its embrace of globalization within this socialist country. This irresistible force is obliterating the ancient historical memory of China's cities, and creating a new urban appearance identical to that of other big cities throughout the world.
Previously an architect, Sze-tsung Leong is particularly concerned with such subjects as the formation of the contemporary city and the waxing and waning of spatial relationships. History Images (2004) is his first series of photographic works to be publicly exhibited. Through it he explores, records and contemplates the meaning of the historical and evolutionary process of swift urbanization in China. Documenting the phenomenon of new buildings replacing old structures, he captures the gradual elimination of traces of history in China's cities, showing the great, brutish struggle between modernity and tradition.
http://www.booklounge.com/content/view/full/3928
http://www.photography-now.com/artists/K19057.html
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/harvarddesignbooks/2hardesschoo.html
Born 1970 in Mexico City, Mexico
Lives and works in New York, United States and Beijing, China
Wangjing Xiyuan Third District, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 2003
Chromogenic color prints
101,6 x 122 cm
Courtesy the artist
Chromogenic color prints
101,6 x 122 cm
Courtesy the artist
In the last 10 years, the large-scale influx of global capital into China has spurred this ancient country into growth at a rapid pace rarely seen in the contemporary age. Economic development has dramatically changed the appearance of China's cities. As Leong mentions in his statement, old residential estates and the communities of previous eras are being instantaneously reduced to rubble, and the old sites turned into high-rise luxury apartments, office buildings and shopping centers. The expectations for the future expressed in the Cultural Revolutionary slogan, "Smash the Old World, Build the New World," are materializing, but ironically, Leong continues, what has brought about this transformation is not the Communist idealism of the Red Guards, but the inexorable rise of capitalism and its embrace of globalization within this socialist country. This irresistible force is obliterating the ancient historical memory of China's cities, and creating a new urban appearance identical to that of other big cities throughout the world.
Previously an architect, Sze-tsung Leong is particularly concerned with such subjects as the formation of the contemporary city and the waxing and waning of spatial relationships. History Images (2004) is his first series of photographic works to be publicly exhibited. Through it he explores, records and contemplates the meaning of the historical and evolutionary process of swift urbanization in China. Documenting the phenomenon of new buildings replacing old structures, he captures the gradual elimination of traces of history in China's cities, showing the great, brutish struggle between modernity and tradition.
http://www.booklounge.com/content/view/full/3928
http://www.photography-now.com/artists/K19057.html
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/harvarddesignbooks/2hardesschoo.html