When film and urban history are woven together, the cityscape can be conceptualized as a screenscape. In America, Jean Baudrillard noted that American cities seem to have come out of films, and if we want to capture the core of the American city, we must “move inwards to the screen.” He wrote, “It is the same feeling you get when you step out of an Italian or a Dutch gallery into a city that seems the very reflection of the paintings you have just seen, as if the city had come out of the paintings and not the other way about.” In contrast, contemporary film scholar Giuliana Bruno put it this way, “Film was a product of the era of the metropolis, expressing an urban viewpoint from the very origin of its history. The city is present as ‘mise en abyme.’” It seems that, if we want to catch a glimpse of the secrets of film, we should look to the city.

In this in-person public event for Macalline Art Center’s “Bare Screen” commissions, we have invited artists Hu Wei and Liang Ban, architects Liang Chen and Xie Li, and curators Li Jia, Miao Zijin, and Liya Han to explore Beijing’s urban spaces and architectural landscapes with you. You will see the work of architects from around the world during the tour, which will begin from the China-Japan Youth Exchange Center, head west, and end at the Central Radio & TV Tower. These different architectural forms echo Hu Wei’s work Hyper-Architecture 2030, which explores how architects envisioned living spaces in future cities. We have also arranged for the curators to participate in an easy-going performance during the tour. You will have the opportunity to chat with them, allowing hypothetical ideas to collide.