Sealed Memories

The work is made up by the machines left in the ruin of a shipyard, with the intention to show a historical space. Shipbuilding at Yangpu can be trace back to the late Qing Dynasty and survived until the early 21st century. It also played a great role in promoting the development of the Chinese society. The artist uses steel plates to seal up these different machines while leaving others open where visitors can see how China in the 1980s introspected itself and embraced the future. Everything we have today is closely related to that era, and the port city of Shanghai is also a microcosm of it. If we forget the 1980s, we may not move on. The work presents itself in a simple and abstract way. In the daytime, the audience can grasp the historic clues by watching videos and transformed objects. At night, the luminescent objects will bring visual changes to the audience, and arouse the respect for history among them while they view the art work.---Liu Jianhua