Exhibition at URBANCROSS Gallery, Shanghai
Concurrent with my artists residency 2023 supported by Pro Helvetia.

City Dust Shanghai
Direct print on fabric
415 × 240 cm
2023

Shanghai Streets
Photocopies
div. sizes
2023
 

☞
Many architects fear time. They are enthusiastic about their idea and creation, but not about what comes next. Because what comes next is reality. Materials corrode, fungi spread, people lay hands on things and change them. The traces that appear this way we call „patina“. This appearance is not planned, does not come from above, but grows from below. If architecture means authority, patina means anarchy. For architects, it is a loss of substance, a contamination of their idea. In the eyes of the residents, however, it is a gain in freedom and a testimony to its history. For a city without patina may have a place in space, but not in time. (Clemens Espenlaub)

The presentation "dust matters" consists of the most recent photographs by the Swiss artist Bianca Pedrina (*1985 in Basel, CH). Pedrina is currently an artist-in-residence supported by Pro Helvetia Shanghai, the Swiss Arts Council. She is investigating the small details that make up cities and places and recently has been focussing on the smallest of details: street dust.
Together with Prof. Wang Guan from the Shanghai University of Science and Technology, facilitated by Xie Wen Tracy from Comple-X, they will investigate the materials that make up the dust deposits on the facades of the former French Concession in which URBANCROSS is located.

建筑师心存对时间的畏惧。他们对于自己的构思和新建筑的创作充满激，
却对即将出现的使用痕迹感到忧心。然而，后续的材料腐蚀、真菌的蔓，
以及人们轻抚所留下的印记，被我们谓之为“古锈”。这种外观的改变非事
前谋划，亦非自上而下，而是在自然中默默生成。对于建筑师而言，这象
征着物质的枯朽和对设计成果的玷污。然而，在使用者眼中，这是自由的
收获和其历史的见证。因为没有岁月痕迹的城市或许在空间中有一席之，
却在时间的长河里难以留下任何痕迹。

Bianca Pedrina于1985年出生于巴塞尔，目前是瑞士文化基金会的驻地艺
术家。她的研究聚焦于构成城市建筑环境和地方身份的微小细节，她的近
期创作专注于最不起眼的颗粒：街道上的尘埃。本次展览将呈现她于驻地
期间所创作的最新摄影作品。Bianca Pedrina也将与上海理工大学环境与
建筑学院的副教授王冠一起，在复杂问题研究所谢雯的协助下，研究衡复
风貌区的建筑物外墙尘埃成分。