New Neighbourhood, Most Youxi

Artist: Yijia Hu/E+LAB
Location: Youxi Town, Linhai County, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
Year: 2021
Researcher: Sun Ting

"As one of the signature projects of the Artist's Rural Revitalization section, 'New Neighborhood Most Yuxi' aims to focus on the intrinsic needs of real life in the countryside, retain vivid historical memories, and continue to condense villagers' shared memories and sense of belonging to their hometowns.
The project takes the perspective of place remodeling to reconstruct the story and spirit of the village through the transformation of physical space. The remodeling of the Neighborhood Center directly faces the hollowing out of the countryside and the reality of empty nests and left-behind children. A set of lighthouses is set up in the outdoor public space as the spatial sign of the ancient village's home induction and summoning. The villagers circulate among them, gathering the standard emotional connection between those who stay and those who leave their hometowns, and the creative creation of public art becomes a connector between space and emotion at this moment.
At the same time, a theater is created. The theater space preserves the bones of the original building and has a new roof that extends to the outdoors, creating an integrated effect that allows access to both the inside and outside of the building. It is worth mentioning that a metal beam has been cleverly installed in the combined structure of the roof and the beams, giving the integrated roof the subtle interest of a flying machine. The theatre supports villagers to meet after their daily work and engage with their neighbors through 'cultural + artistic' activities, which implicitly triggers villagers' protection and inheritance of their local culture.
In addition, the project emphasizes the common thinking of restoring the old buildings as they were in the 1960s. In the comprehensive creation of a 'home community,' a safe place has been set up for children to play and act as custodian. The indoor collection of medical rehabilitation, culture and leisure, fitness and recreation for the elderly as one of the functional enhancements, to create a perfect function, convenient service '5-minute living circle' to complete the 'harmony culture, the old have a shelter, the young have fun' grassroots rural services integrated unit."

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From the researcher -

The project focuses on social issues in the countryside and promotes the healthy development of rural production, life and ecology, as well as the cultivation of villagers' public art ideology. The project introduced the first ""Sheep Café"" and launched the ""Old Street New Wave - Coffee Market"" and other modern activities. During the activity period, the customer flow reached 1w+, and the revenue of the surrounding area reached 10w+, which became a sample of the local cultural tourism and youthful economic vitality; through the combination of the master plan and the ""micro-renewal"" spatial strategy, it lifted the knot of the operation of the local public space, emancipated the public attribute of the space, and created a benign living atmosphere; with the intervention of public art, the aesthetic and education became the core of the project, and the public space became the center for the development of the public space. With the intervention of public art, aesthetics and education have become a daily existence, and public exchanges among village and town residents have been re-promoted, creating a common living atmosphere and strengthening emotional links.

Rural revitalization and cultural tourism research - Deepen the practical research in the direction of constructive and participatory rural public art. Explore new modes of artistic rural construction and cultural tourism through public welfare organizations, activities and festivals, and brand residences while emphasizing the inheritance and revitalization of traditional crafts in villages and towns and the innovative use of traditional vernacular materials.

Public Art Intervention in Social Governance - The project explores the paths, modes, and mechanisms of public art space intervention in rural spaces. As well as in the face of publicity and subjectivity of the game, art as a medium to explore the art of empowerment, aesthetic publicity, rights subjectivity, spatial justice, and other issues, and from the project in the cocoon, beware of public art ""public"" recession reality.

The social aesthetic education of public art - Re-examining the meaning and value of public art for social education, combining the philosophical study of daily life aesthetics to empower local culture, regions, and ethnic groups, and facilitating shared public aesthetic education and living space.

It alleviates the social problems of high mountain migrants, left-behind children, and empty-nested elderly living alone triggered by the hollowing out of the countryside, basically meets the needs for survival services and a better life, and promotes the camaraderie of the village people in watching out for each other and building a home together. It provides dynamic samples for the development of rural revitalization and empowers artistic strategies for solving similar rural problems. As an aesthetic space to meet the public's appreciation and perception of spatial aesthetics and become a topic of artistic rural construction in the public space of the network to be discussed and evaluated."

Progress Agency