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Into the Island, 2024 © CCA
In the summer of 2022, DnA was invited to design a potential museum building on Meizhou Island, located off the coast of principal architect Xu Tiantian’s hometown of Putian. Famous as the site which gave birth to the cult of the sea goddess Mazu, the island is an environment where religious pilgrimages and mass tourism, traditional farming techniques, and strict conservation policies co-exist in a fragile balance.
进岛方向/Into the Island follows Xu in her discovery of essential elements, pressure points, and issues on the destabilizing terrain that is the ocean and its delicate ecosystem.
Regulated by the timing of the tides and the rituals of sea cultivations, Meizhou Island is the set where ideas for a diffused life museum and a series of precise interventions were conceived in dialogue with and in service to villagers, fisherfolks, and experts in marine biology. Into the Island is a snapshot of a fluid design process, a story of encounters, a narrative composed through the fragments of an evolving culture and fluctuating landscape.
进岛方向/Into the Island is the first chapter of Groundwork, a three-part film and exhibition series exploring the conceptual development and field research of contemporary architects cultivating alternative modes of engagement with new project sites.
2024 | 41 min
Digital film
First film of a three-part series
Directed by Joshua Frank
in Chinese (Mandarin) and English, with French and English subtitles
Screenings and participation in festivals
Shanghai Biennale, 8 November 2025—31 March 2026
Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, 22 January 2025—17 May 2026
Copenhagen Architecture Forum, Copenhagen, 5 May 2026
Swiss Architecture Museum, Basel, 8 May 2026—30 May 2026
Matthew Gallery, Edinburgh, 14 Jan 2026
Jim Thompson House, Bangkok, 14 December 2025
Design Museum London, London, 11 July 2025—5 October 2025
La forêt électrique, Maison de l’Architecture, Toulouse, 20 September 2025
Psarokokalo Film Festival, Folegandros, July 2025
Triennale di Milano, Milan, May–November 2025
Marcus Prize Exhibition, Milwaukee, April 2025–May 2025
FIFA, Montréal, 22 March 2025
PINUP Magazine, Online, 7 December 2024—21 December 2024
The World Around, Shanghai, 7 December 2024
RIDM, Montréal, 23 November 2024
Centre d’études et des croyances de la Chine, Montréal, 27 October 2024
ArchFilm Festival, Lund, 19 October 2024
Architectural Association: Transversal Alliances Symposium, London, 11 October 2024
e-flux: Film as Curatorial Tool, New York, 5 October 2024
Architektur.Film.Sommer 2024, Vienna, 14 August 2024
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