In Lingnan in March, the damp soil of the countryside emits a fresh smell and gives birth to a new life.
Lin Hairui, a "post-90s" architectural designer graduated from South China University of Technology, and Chen Xunan, a cutting-edge muralist graduated from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, visited Huanglong Village in Shunde, Foshan, and Dalingjie Village in Nansha, Guangzhou, respectively, and their works designed for beautiful villages have been integrated into the rural texture.
Let the ancient village "see the mountains, see the water, and remember the homesickness." Their creative designs have taken root in the countryside and have even become "internet celebrity" works.
This new cultural creativity is awakening the "sleeping" ancient villages in Lingnan.
To see the new rural design works of the "post-90s" designers, click on the video
Cultural Deep Reading| Lingnan Rural "Beautician"
Rural public toilets have become "net red" punch points
Two curved red brick walls, embedded in teapots, cups and bowls and other villagers' living utensils, green rattan plants crawl out of the gaps, and the sun sprinkles gold spots.
Few people will guess that this is a public toilet, which is from the hands of "post-90s" architect Lin Hairui, located in zuzhai Village, Kaiping Tangkou Town.
Lin Hairui was born in 1992 in Jieyang, Guangdong Province. After graduating from the Department of Architecture of South China University of Technology, he joined the Vertical Beam Club founded by teachers Song Gang and Zhong Guanqiu.
From "beams" to "vertical beams", the name means to break the convention, and more than half of the members are "post-90s".
Most of the "Vertical Beam Society" team is a "post-90s" architectural designer.
In 2019, the Shuliang Society received a proposition to build a tourist public toilet in zuzhai village opposite zili village in the core area of the world cultural heritage Kaiping Diaolou.
When Lin Hairui and his colleagues first entered the village, they became interested in some of the abandoned bricks and tiles that the villagers had recently demolished, which left a large number of traces of the villagers' lives.
They found more than 500 iron cages, placed these discarded bricks and tiles in them, and then embedded the crock pots and teapots used by the villagers. Villagers also volunteered to help the architects collect old objects.
The young architects broke with the norm, "hidden" the public toilets, and built concrete folding plates above the toilets, combined with the rest steps, and transformed them into a large landscape platform.
The renovated public toilets are fully integrated into the surrounding landscape, "just like the natural 'growth' in the village." Lin Hairui said.
The net red toilet designed by Lin Hairui's team for the ancestral house village of Kaiping Tangkou Town attracts young people to punch in.
The toilet quickly became popular online, attracting many young people to take pictures, and won many international awards such as the WLA World Landscape Architecture (Small Building) Gold Award.
More than two years later, Lin Hairui was pleased to find that the original "hollow" village, because of the revival of this "net red" building, it has become a must-pass punch point for many tourist groups, and residents have opened commissaries and homestays in the surrounding area, and the business is booming.
Kaiping ancestral village rural "net red" public toilet.
"Castle in the Sky" above the 800-year-old village
In 2016, the first project Lin Hairui took over after graduation was to renovate Xinji Village, Mayong Town, Dongguan, an 800-year-old ancient village in Lingnan.
Xinji Village is a mixture of buildings of different ages, ranging from the old ancestral hall built in the Ming Dynasty to the sloped-roof Lingnan House of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the tile houses of the 1980s.
"These houses look tall and disorganized, but like the annual rings of a big tree, they treasure the texture of the ancient village."
Lin Hairui and the team decided to "make a fuss" on the roof terrace, and built a white loft on it as a homestay, connected by bridges and stairways.
Under the stars, the whole brightly lit white house is like a "city in the sky" attached to the texture of the ancient village, shining brightly.
The "White House" designed by The Vertical Beam Society is a "white house" designed for Xinji Village, Mayong Town, Dongguan, an 800-year-old lingnan ancient village.
A chemical reaction is created between the new house and the old house, creating an interesting tension.
In 2019, the "Vertical Liang Society" took over the landscape design of Changqi Ancient Village in Lubao Town, a famous Lingnan ancient village in Foshan.
A bamboo pavilion designed by Lin Hairui's team for the villagers of Changqi Ancient Village in Foshan.
After some investigation and visits, he found that the ancient village was lined with bamboo on the Wenbi Mountain, and the elders in the village had been passing on a bamboo weaving craft.
After a discussion, several young designers decided to use this bamboo weaving technique to build a "pavilion" for the villagers next to the old basketball court in the village.
A thousand bamboo strips stand tall, the shadows are mottled, and there are eight curved umbrella-shaped bamboo corridors... In the end, the "pavilion" was completed by villagers, volunteers and designers, and the whole process awakened the long-sleeping memory and suddenly became the "finishing touch" of the new appearance of the ancient village.
Wonderful wall painted for Lingnan water town "disguise"
In Dalingjie Village, Nansha, Guangzhou, "post-85" artist Chen Xunan depicts the patterns on the walls without distraction, and the melodious Cantonese opera rhymes come from the deep alleys.
In 2012, while studying for a master's degree in the Decorative Arts Department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Chen Xunan set up a studio "Elephant Workshop".
As rural revitalization has become a hot spot, in the past four years, the team has tailored wall paintings for famous villages and towns in Lingnan, with a total creative area of more than 6,000 square meters.
Emerging muralist Chen Xunan designed a wall painting for foshan's Guicheng Greenway.
Eagle claw fist, juban gong and drum, dragon boat drift and other folk activities are dazzling... In Foshan Guicheng Chaji Village, the quaint ancestral hall and the crisscrossing river gushing bear witness to the vicissitudes of 600 years.
After the creative transformation of Chen Xunan's team, the original boring red brick wall has been "transformed" into a mosaic lion's head graffiti; traditional instruments such as flying cymbals, sand drums, cloud drums, and Su gongs have "jumped on" the mottled wall to interpret the symphony of tradition and fashion...
"Each ancient village has its own unique cultural genes." Chen Xunan said that the reason why he wanted to "perform art because of the wall" was out of cherishing and reverence.
Along the village road of Zuotan Village in Shunde, Chen Xunan painted the villagers' "Weishui History" on the wall.
To this end, everywhere they went, they had to walk the streets and alleys, carefully investigate, and find the unique personality symbols of each village.
More than 60 years ago, the famous writer Ouyang Shan once collected style in the East Community of Guicheng, Foshan, and later created a novel "Bright Future" based on this experience.
After Chen Xunan learned about it, he used a paintbrush to restore the situation of the great writer and the villagers planting seedlings together, which was recognized by Ouyang Yanxing, the son of Ouyang Shan.
Zhang Shuhui, a "post-95" from Huizhou who is also a member of the elephant workshop, sighed: "Art allows us to better understand the countryside and better protect the nostalgia in our hearts." ”
The elephant workshop "Art by the Wall" reproduces the cultural elements of the Awakening Lion in the Dong'er community.
Traditional Teochew inlaid porcelain reproduces Van Gogh style "dot color"
In addition to the title of mural designer, Chen Xunan also has a "hidden identity" - inlaid porcelain artist.
Chaozhou inlaid porcelain is a unique architectural handicraft in the Chaoshan region. The tide proverb has clouds: "Cuo horn head, there is a play." "On the roof of the ancestral hall and temple in my hometown, colorful porcelain pieces are built into various rare birds and animals.
Chen Xunan's hometown, Shantou Yundong Village, is an ancient village founded in Chaoshan in the Song Dynasty. During his undergraduate studies, Chen Xunan joined the traditional craft society "Changwen Society" and met Lu Zhigao, the representative inheritor of the inlaid porcelain intangible cultural heritage, and since then, his obsession with inlaid porcelain has become unapptainable.
In the past 9 years, he has traveled all over Chaoshan to explore the Yoshimitsu Katayu of inlaid porcelain art, and on the way, he has heard the helpless sighs of traditional craftsmen many times, and is worried about the lack of successors to this arts and crafts scattered in the countryside.
However, he chose to believe in the vitality of contemporary porcelain inlays, "returning to public space is the best way out for the development of porcelain inlays".
In 2018, in Chenzhou Village, Hongcao Town, Shanwei, he finally let his creativity take root.
Chenzhou Village is a well-known "oyster town" in eastern Guangdong, and nowadays, people entering the village can always see an "egret" made of oyster shells, flying out of the wall. This is exactly chen Xunan's proud work of inlaid porcelain art, which has become the most vivid "industrial business card" in Chenzhou Village.
Wall painting has become an "industrial business card" with the characteristics of "oyster township" in Chenzhou Village, Shanwei.
Chen Xunan's dream is still continuing, he wants to use a series of graffiti, inlaid porcelain works, connecting time, emotions and memories, and telling the stories of his ancestors to the next generation.
Expert reviews
Don't let the "net red" design be short-lived
They used "weaving and repairing" creation and "embroidery kung fu" transformation, and there was little interference in the cultural texture of the village. More and more cutting-edge design forces have entered the countryside to seek inspiration, introducing new formats and injecting new vitality into the village. However, we should also be wary of the tendency of "Internet celebrity", and keep in mind that the most fundamental purpose of design is to improve the quality of life of villagers.
——Cao Jin, President of Guangdong Archaeological Research Institute and Doctor of Architecture
Village wall painting has become a medium for tourists to communicate with villagers
As a public art form, wall painting intervenes in rural revitalization with artistic power, which not only provides a means for the construction of a beautiful living environment, but also stimulates tourism consumption. Wall painting should not only stay on the picture, but also become a medium for tourists to communicate with villagers.
——Li Hao, Professor of the Institute of China Regional Coordinated Development and Rural Construction, Sun Yat-sen University
Rural beautification and transformation should enhance the happiness of villagers
The intervention of design forces is not simply to "beautify" the countryside, but more importantly, to establish a dialogue mechanism with local people, explore natural and cultural resources, and solve the practical problems of rural revitalization. As for whether it can be sustainable, in the future, local governments need to give more reasonable guidance to make the project closer to the actual needs of villagers.
——Shen Kang, Dean of the School of Architecture and Design of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Artists and villagers should become "fellow travelers"
Artists give more public cultural aesthetic value to contemporary villages. The vivid practice of these arts intervening in the countryside can be sustained depends on whether it can become the way of life of the villagers themselves. Artists and designers also need to better communicate with villagers and make each other the same people in rural revitalization.
——Feng Yuan, Professor, School of Communication Design, Sun Yat-sen University
[Reporter] Li Pei, Yang Yi, Wang Kai, intern Hu Siming
【Video/Photo】Qiu Minye Yao Zhihao
【Editing】He Zhihao Intern Tan Yuting
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【Author】 Li Pei;Qiu Minye;He Zhihao;Yang Yi;Yao Zhihao
【Source】 Southern Press Media Group South + client