Anthony Vidler suggests in his introduction to The Architectural Uncanny that the uncanny suggests a “state between dream and awakening particularly susceptible to exploitation” that is experienced by Walter Benjamin’s “disturbingly heterogeneous crowds” in the modern urban context.
Beijing and Shenzhen certainly offer the visitor a taste of the macabre and startling excitement of raw human ingenuity, adaptability and resilience in the face of a pace of change that seems more in line with the virtual world than the real. For an artist the explosion of life and drama that appears at every turn of these cities’ unfolding landscapes provides a stimulating backdrop to studio life 
and here I am attempting to contain the momentary blindness from the glare of the weird by capturing it in the words and pictures of my blog. Of course I know this is impossible but it’s fun trying! Some of these images are from Hong Kong but no less intriguing for that. Oliver Wainwright examines the current Chinese propensity for faking architectural landmarks in the search for some kind of cultural cache that is upsetting Zaha Hadid and seems a little unecessary considering China did most things before everyone else…
rachelceramics 