In the afternoon of December 13th, APSMUSEUM is delighted to invite Mr. Leng Lin, Pace Gallery Partner and the President of Pace Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul, Founder of Beijing Commune Gallery; Mr. Zhang Junjie, President and Chief Architect of ECADI; Mr. Xu Yibo, Chinese partner and Chief Architect of SBA China; artist Hu Weiyi and Ms. Mo Wanli, the emerging curator and architecture scholar to present a conversation “Dance with light—What does James Turrell bring to the architecture?”. Focusing on the works of James Turrell, one of the participating artists from the exhibition Ensemble Urbain, our guest speakers will discuss how his works relate to aspects of light and architecture.

James Turrell is the pioneer and a leading artist of the Space and Light Movement originated from the Southern California. He aims to expand people’s experience of space, color and intuition through the medium of light. His creations not only inspire audience’s perception towards light but also provoke us to ponder over the possibilities of architecture.

As James Turrell’s creations of Skyspaces installed in places all over the world, the natural space, man-made space, and environments that we inhabit are transformed into tangible objects that connect human feelings through light. If we see light as a virtual object and architecture as a physical realization, then what James Turrell’s works have achieved is a third experience that transcends these two objects.

As the artist once said, “My work has no object, no image and no focus. With no object, no image and no focus, what are you looking at? You are looking at you looking. What is important to me is to create an experience of wordless thought.” In light of this, our guest speakers with their extensive practice in the field of architecture will discuss the influence of James Turrell’s works from both conceptual and practical perspectives.

Leng Lin is the Pace Gallery Partner and the President of Pace Beijing, Hong Kong and Seoul. He is founder of Beijing Commune Gallery and the member of artist collective group-“Polit-Sheer-Form Office” which was initiated by artists Song Dong, Hong Hao, Xiao Yu and Liu Jianhua in 2005.

Zhang Junjie, President and Chief Architect of ECADI, State Council Expert for Special Allowance, Shanghai’s Leading Talent, Professor-Level Senior Engineer.

Member of the National Registered Architects Management Committee; Standing Director of the Architectural Society of China; part-time researcher of Southeast University; Director of the High-rise Building Human Settlement Environmental Academic Committee of the Architectural Society of China; Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Architectural Society and Chairman of the Registered Architect Branch; Director of the Shanghai Green Building Planning and Architectural Design; Director of Engineering Technology Research Center of the Shanghai Super High-rise Building Design, etc.

Dr. Xu Yibo, the practitioner of Vertical Forest and Forest City in China, the National First Class Registered Architect, the Chinese partner of Stefano Boeri Architetti(SBA) and the guest lecturer of China Academy of Art.

Dr. Xu Yibo worked in Cino Zucchi Architetti (CZA) in Milan and Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) in Rotterdam. Since 2010, Dr. Xu Yibo has been in working on projects of Vertical Forests in SBA.

Dr. Xu has taught graduate students at Architecture School of Polimi. He has published many theses on city renovation and green buildings on International journals and translated several Italian academic publications including the monograph written by Stefano Boeri, A Vertical Forest. He was invited to many renowned domestic and International exhibitions and events including Venice Biennale of Architecture, Beijing Design Week, 2015 Shanghai Urban Space Season, Shanghai Project 2116 Plan and 2017 SUSAS.

As the Chinese partner and chief architect of SBA China, Dr. Xu leads the major projects including Nanjing Vertical Forest, Guizhou Mountain Hotel, Lishui Forest City Master Plan, Pudong Airport Jungle, Renovation of Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shanghai Hecheng Renovation, Huanggang Vertical Forest City Complex and Shanghai Vertical Forest Tea Hotel.

Hu Weiyi was born in 1990 in Shanghai China. He graduated from the China Academy of Art with a BA in Public Art in 2013, concluding his studies with an MA in Media. He lives and works in Shanghai. His work has been the subject of major museum solo shows including the Asian Art Center Taipei and Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Beijing. Further exhibitions have included the Yuz Museum, Power Station of Art, Long Museum, MoCA Shanghai, Guang Dong Times Museum, Minsheng Art Museum, CAFA Art Museum, Hong Kong Arts Centre. His work has been exhibited at international institutions including Helmhaus Zürich, White Rabbit Gallery Chippendale, and V2 Rotterdam. In 2014 Hu Weiyi won the 2nd Art Sanya Huayu Youth Award.

In depth research and an interest in experimental film and theatrical performance imbue Hu Weiyi’s multimedia experiments, which he uses to open new avenues for social ethnography, both as artist and curator. Working in photography, video and installation he is a resourceful montage artist. A series called Flirt introduced cold light to various objects to manipulate a viewer’s perception of them, an effect he achieved without resorting to digital software manipulation.

Mo Wanli is an emerging curator and architecture scholar. Her research focuses on contemporary forms of life and its relationship with material and immaterial productions. Mo has published widely in Architectural Journal, Time+Architecture, Urban Environment Design, Retrospecta and etc. Since 2018, she has served as the acting editor of Architecture China. Mo is the curator of Home, Sweet Home(2017) exhibition at Shanghai Power Station of Arts. She has also served as an assistant curator of the Pavilion of China, Biennale Architettura, 2018 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season 2017. She is also a doctoral student at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University. She received her Master of Architecture Degree from Yale University.

Dancer from site-specific theatre production Sleep No More