Swedish architects Tor Lindstrand and Marten Spangberg provided rare comic relief, with the project Four Ecologies of International Festival. Labelling themselves half architect, half performance artist, one of their ‘ecologies’ consisted of a karoake machine, some colourful LED tubing, a board with the text INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL written with a felt-tip pen in unsteady outline letters, a dry-ice machine, and a small camping table overladen with bottles of vodka, Pims and various other highly alcoholic beverages. The architects, clad in t-shirts sporting either the charachter for SHEN or the character for ZHEN distributed the booze generously and freely to any passer-by who showed an interest. Hong Rongman, Bert and Monica and myself found ourselves hooked to this little party. However corny and silly this all may sound…I think it was one of the few on-site installations that actually connected with local citizens. Like the one fellow who kept on coming for more free booze, getting Hong to translate for him that he wanted no less than 6 different types of alcohol poured into one cup.

Hong Rongman, gentelman as always, offers to pose in the t-shirt with two unknown pretty girls. Together they spell shen-zhen- she (= shen zhen city)

In front of the Civic Center, you can make out Medular Pavilion designed by Maurer United Architects. Amazingly, it managed to hold it’s own, scale-wise, next to that unholy sized rooftop.

Jiakun Architects made the pavilion, With the Wind 2009, that echos the shape of the Civic Center roof using a net kept afloat in the air by balloons. A comment on the meglomaniacal character of the neighboring roof I wonder?