Wang Youshen, Per Square Meter at ShanghART
Engaging with the whole-scale demolition which surround us in Beijing, Wang presents installations and wall based works which allow you to walk amongst the rubble rather than pass by as an observer. Having installed a partition wall, he then demolished most of it and left us to pick through the rubble. The dust and sharp edges reminded me of the working conditions of the labourers, along with the implications of all the dust rising into the atmosphere we all share. In clearing the spaces, the space for us to live longer together on earth risks being compromised.
Mounted on the walls are large scale photographs of an area of demolished buildings, presented up against panels of concrete which has been reconstructed and mounted. The cracks and texture of the surface shows the force required to break the material, but the effort taken to locate the pieces and reassemble them seems quite tender. Cherishing the space, the material, the workers or the former lives lived in the structure which is reduced to rubble? All come to mind.