The Shenzhen International Biennale (UABB) is a one-of-a-kind event dedicated to the challenges of urban transformation.
The Biennale itself was conceived as a tool for transforming urban industrial zones. Each time, the organizers choose one of the Shenzhen factories to be renovated as a venue, after which they hold a competition for its development. Upon completion of the next biennale, the factory space becomes a full-fledged creative cluster, initiating the further development of the region. The main argument in favor of preserving the existing factory buildings is their special atmosphere, which cannot be created in new buildings. The organizers invite the biennial participants to explore the architectural qualities of spaces that previously served as a purely utilitarian function.
The venue for this year's biennale, already the sixth in a row, has been chosen a flour mill in the coastal region of Shekou, not far from the passenger port. A competition was held for the renovation project of the factory, as a result of which the concept of the NODE bureau was implemented, and its founder, Doreen Heng Liu, was included in the curatorial team of the Biennale. In addition to her, the curators of UABB-2015 were Aaron Betsky, Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumpner.
The theme for 2015 is “Re-living the Cities”, or “Bringing Cities Back to Life”. Participants and visitors were invited to discuss how existing buildings and spaces could be rethought and reused. Structurally, the biennale consisted of several parts - a curatorial exposition, national pavilions, a collection of urban activism practices, and an urban school open to everyone.
All these sections are organically located on the territory of the flour mill in several buildings and an elevator tower. The space of the elevator, consisting of five interconnected 30-meter high cylinders, was in no way inferior in terms of impact to a medieval cathedral, not to mention the acoustics. Professional lighting gives the interior of the towers a truly museum look.
The building opposite the elevator received an elegant finish in the form of a black "box" that contained a small auditorium, one of the walls of which opened like a curtain to the central square. The rest of the open space is filled with exhibition pavilions in the form of shipping containers, where themed expositions are located. Several free-standing pillars in front of the main building are covered with a gigantic canopy, which created a comfortable intermediate space. The main sections of the exposition are located on three levels of the building.
The lower level was occupied by the practice of urban activism - various and sometimes completely unexpected installations showing how residents themselves master the space of their city. The second floor houses curatorial projects dedicated to the past, present and future of the region of China, where Shenzhen, the Pearl River Delta, is located. Its long-standing role as a "global factory" has given rise to a number of problems, including uncontrolled growth in production, environmental pollution and rapid urbanization. The exposition demonstrated possible responses to the challenges of the new economy. The third level was given to the national pavilions. In addition to Russia, Great Britain, Holland, Switzerland, Ireland, Spain, Finland and Mexico presented their versions of territory renovation. The exhibition part was complemented by an extensive program of events, from the school of tactical urbanism to numerous lectures by architects and urbanists.
In general, over the twelve years, the Shenzhen Biennale has shown itself to be a real and effective tool for renovating the territories excluded from the life of the city, turning them into “points of growth” for the new urban economy. It is important for Russian cities to adopt this experience and explore the potential that such territories have in the event that they are filled with new functions characteristic of the information age. These could be both cultural and high-tech industries, whose representatives feel quite comfortable in such spaces.
