INALTERABLE DREAMS

the people and architecture of china's folk environments

Dek Erh Art Center, Shanghai
I Space Gallery, Chicago
Temple Buell Hall, Champaign

Folk environments of the common man often display profound
characteristics which eloquently reflect in built works the values of the
people who created them. Such architecture is often overlooked in favor of
grand monuments, a circumstance particularly true in China where the
Forbidden City, The Great Wall, ancient temples and formal gardens are
often presented as symbols of a culture which has always been and remains
today primarily rural.

Inalterable Dreams is an exhibit which draws from the rich reservoir of
unexplored forms, meaningful places and culturally based planning
principles which profess the richness of the fabric of rural China. It focuses
on the planning and architecture of small vernacular villages and folk living
and working environments. Subjects include farming villages, communal
villages, island villages, water towns and market towns. The exhibit offers a
critical view of the land and village type in light of contemporary issues
clearly demonstrated as societal values: beliefs and world view, human
ecology, sustainability, livelihood, transportation and movement, tradition,
vernacular design, community, family, class, gender, collective living, public
space and concepts of place. The photos are provocative visuals. They
present graphic textural detail intended to engage both the Chinese and
Western viewer visually and intellectually with images of unique ways of life.
Inalterable Dreams is intended for an audience of critical scholars and
informed students of environmental design. Through its original Chinese
subject matter and detailed views of the human condition, the exhibit will
appeal to a greater general audience as well.

Intro		Gallery 1		Gallery 2		Gallery 3		Epilogue