Pavilion of Shifting Paths
Seemingly motionless high columns and glass ceilings of the Quanyechang are the silent witnesses to a long-gone past. They dream of the old days when the palace was filled with brightly coloured merchandise, endless rows of products, enchanting and mesmerising. People would flock here to shop for the shiny new wares, watch an opera in the New Heaven theatre, play billiards or simply walk around and succumb to the vibrant atmosphere of the former department store.
Pavillion of shifting paths seeks to revive the magnificent story of the Quanyechang and pay tribute to its status not only as an important historical building in the heart of Beijing, but also as the site of city’s collective cultural memory. Through two site-specific installations, a video-mapping projection on the northern facade and a sound installation inside, this place of wonders can find its voice again. Visitors are invited to go on a journey of discovery through time, where fleeting images and long-forgotten sounds combine with the unique architectural features of the building in sophisticated story-telling, creating an immersive and at the same time intimate experience. The video projection on the facade merges classical and contemporary aesthetics to revive the images of the past, and highlight the monumental architectural structure.
https://vimeo.com/198512998?share=copy
The work of Beijing-born artist Echo Ho, now living in Cologne, investigates conceptual dimensions of diverse cultural material and historical narratives through the use of various media. She has brought together the following team of internationally acclaimed artists and designers in order to realise this project:
Project Conceptualisation and Direction: Echo Ho (GESA-Multimedia)
Sound Design & Generative Sound Art: Hannes Hoelzl
Song Composition: Yoonji Kim
Electronic Composition: Reto Gnad
Instruments: Holger Mertin, Xuanyanli
Recording & Mixing: Judith Nordbrock
3D artists: Alexander Partl, Nikolas Müller, Maurits Boettger
2D artist: Jie Lu (Studio Drei)
Generative Video Art: Matthias Neuenhofer
Video Compositing & Motion Graphics: Igor Shin Moromisato
Painting, Drawing, Graphics and Video Editing: Pengyu Huang, Ping Lu
Production Coordinator in China: Xiaoshan He