Events 2007

As China relaxed the restrictions and reopened her doors to foreign investments in the 1980s, property projects became the most sought-after investments. In order not to lose out, people rushed to pour their lifelong savings into real estate deals, sometimes without even having seen a brick. With corruption prevalent and an overheated economy, problems soon emerged. The bubble finally burst and millions of square metres of land were left unfinished. In 1998, in Hainan alone, a combined floor space of 16.3 million square metres were aborted or left unfinished (source: People's Daily Online, September 26, 2005). This wave of abortive building construction spread across other Asian cities which were also experiencing meteoric economic growth.

People in China termed these projects "lan wei lou" (爛尾樓) - "lan" means "decaying" and "rotting" while "wei" is "the tail", "the ending". Therefore "lan wei" has in it more than just "unfinished". For some reasons or other, it was just not possible to complete these buildings. In time, the concept of "lan wei" extends beyond building projects. It becomes synonymous with anything that is aborted while in progress, for reasons unknown. The exhibition "Lan Wei/ Abortive Buildings" attempts to capture the relics of this mad "gold rush" and, at the same time, reflect on how, throughout the years, "lan wei" has manifested itself not only in building projects but also in all aspects of life.

Born in Hong Kong and best known for his red-white-blue works, Anothermountainman has exhibited internationally and represented Hong Kong in the 51st Venice Biennale (2005). His other selected exhibitions include the 1st Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism/ Architecture (OCAT, 2005), the Hong Kong Art Biennial (2003/1999) and Shanghai International Poster Exhibition (Shanghai Art Museum, 1999).

School tour available upon arrangement:
kultur@hongkong.goethe.org

The actual exhibition at the Goethe-Institut Hongkong: