2009 (3rd) Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen)

City Mobilization   By OU Ning

The Biennale phenomenon originated in Venice a hundred years ago.An evolution of the world expositionspopular in the 19th century,it is a form closely associated with the rise of the nation-states and their need tocaim sovereignty.The Venice Biennae—a living fossil of the history of the biennale system—maintainedthe tradition of organizing oontent acoording to nationality,a feature which has resulted in the establishment of"national pavilions".In the past hundred years,radical changes within human history and society have helpedto propagate biennales;and as it stands now,there are more than three hundred of them taking place alloverthe world.It is worth noting,however,that with the end of the cold-war era and the integration of the globaleconomy the concept of"nation-state"has itself been taking a less significant role.Biennales,in turn,havebecome less concemed with national identity and more closely resemble competitions between individual cities.Cities around the world swarm to the biennale model,creating cultural,artistic and other spectacles to attractmultinational capital and visitors.The resulting boom of the travel industry has also triggered the regenerationof cities in the post-industrial era and,in Saskia Sassen's terms,has turned them into"Global Cities"—nodeson achain of global economy,financial markets and culture.

Is this the ony reason behind the worldwide prosperity of biennales?Are biennales the "magic bullet"for acity's regeneration?Is there a new possibility for this 100-year-old model?For the Shenzhen G Hong KongBiennale of Architecture and Urbanism (hereafter "SZHKB7)—a newoomer to the scene—these questions areinevitable.

Just like its older sibling—the museum system —the biennale is not without its own share of problems.To begin with,it has become a game of power within certain professional circles and a repetitive machine ofproduction and marketing.With hundreds of biennales around the world,only about a thousand curators andartists can be considered active players in the scene.Faces you see in one biennale are likely to be found inanother one the following year,and it is practically possible to compile a list of no more than 10,000 commonplayers amongst frequently jet-setting visitors.Therefore,the measure of suocess for a biennale organzer lies in the ability to engage this finite group of people.Second,biennales have long situated themselves high onheir horse,taking a top-down approach towards the public.They deem the audienoe as those who need to beeducated,rather than as participants who deserve a non-hierarchical,interactive relationship with both theorganizers and the artists.Alhough public education programs have a significant presence in the biennaleand museum system nowadays,this has become more akin to a gesture of aocessibility and a symbolic givingback to the tax payers—aka the general public.The whole concept of "education"however,implies anunderestimation of the public's ability to interpret and actively participate in the exhibited works.

As a young biennale with only two previous installments (in 2005 and 2007,respectively,SZHKB has inventedan innovative,dual-city mode of operation which may be summarized as "Two Cities,One Biennale".To focusnot only on architecture but also urbanism means to have a very open visionin terms of the biennale's content;practically ary topic,opinion and creation related to "city"can be considered.As the inhabitants and users ofthe city,the residents themselves should be able to have their voices heard,and SZHKB is keen on engagingthem,either as participant or audience.A"Citizen Participation"section was launched in the first SZHKB forthe purpose of inviting and dsoovering grass-roots creativity by the citizens themselves,who are encouragedto propose works to be exhibited in the same space and exhibition framework with professional architects,urban researchers and artists.This groundbreaking approach has tom down the professional barrier set up bytraditional biennales,thus lending a democratic tinge to the entire SZHKB exhibition and enterprise.

In other words,thereis the possibility for another kind of biennale besides the one reliant upon visual spectacle.A biennale can be a meeting hall,or social action,or even a political event.It can be a city-wide carnival,anentertainment gala that engages all citizers.It doesn't have to happen in a certainmuseum or be limited to oneplace,rather it can turn the whole city into an exhibition venue,or even develop other cities into sub-verues.Itdoes not simply attract people from around the world to Sherzhen and Hong Kong,it helps to organize the citizersof Shenzhen to visit other participating cities.The key to allthese propositions lies in one word:mobilization.

The 2009 SZHKB is organized around the theme of "City Mobilization".The aim is to test the possibility ofarge-scale,effective social mobilization in a time that lacks centralized foroe,spiritual solidarity and practicalorganization.The design of contemporary cities are not only about the functional planning of streets and blocksand the arrangement of buildings,rather it is about the organization and coordination of the people living inand events occurring inside these cities and spaces,as well as the elaborate distribution of their interests.Urban designers and architects have long been focusing on the building of physical space,and are seldomattentive to the social structures,community interests and political realities behind these cities and buildings.Eventually,they succumb to the interests of state power or become subsumed by the profit-oriented capitalistmachinery,paying little heed to the sustainability and the human dimension of their creations.For the thirdSZHKB this year,we aim to mobilize urban designers and architects to reoonsider their social identities andprofessional roles,moreover,we also want to mobilize artists, authors, musiciars,filmmakers,thinkers,socialactivists,politicians and citizers to offer their intellectual support.Let us revitalize the spiritual foundationof our society in a spiritually fragile time,and build a foundation,though rooted in the city,that is poised tobenefit the oountryside and territories beyond.

A biennale should not simply be an exhibition for the high and mighty,nor should it be only an incubatorof new economic achievements.Apart from being the business card of a city,it should attempt to regainintellectual criticalityirwoke the public's desire for action,and take up the responsibility of acvancing socialprogress.Sherz hen and Hong Kong,the twin cities of the Fearl River Delta at the southern tip of China,arewell known for being the engine rooms of China's "Open Door Policy"reforms some thirty years ago.With itsproximity to Hong Kong,Shenzhen has been the cornerstone of economic experiments that have contributedsignificantly to China's current astonishing social transformation.A biennale co-hosted by two such cities wasbom with a kind of audacity that defies accepted boundaries,a kind of chutzpah that challenges and provokes.We hereby sincerely invite you to Shenzhen and Hong Kong to witness the next page in the history of thesewo remarkable cities,and to take pat in our enterprise to reinvent the shared values of our time.Let's get mobilizedlet's be cutting-edge,provocative and critical.Together,we willusher in a warm and sunny winter in South China this year.