"The factory building that Dashila(b) selected served as a repurposed site for the commissioned work Moment, Moving Moments by the artist CYJO, who conducted ethnographic research in the Dashilar neighborhood. In her diptych, she presented a portrait still and a video of interviews with residents and local business-owners. Her work presents layers of local history, both in the materiality of the walls, preserved from its days as a factory, and in the narratives told through the video. These personal stories focused on the changing neighborhood and the relationship to tradition. This was made perhaps most evident in the portrait of the animal trainer, whose profession (shoyi) relates to the proximity to the imperial palace, which the Dashilar neighborhood is adjacent to. For thousands of years, the animal trainers for the imperial palace resided, trained and passed on their craft in Dashilar. The artwork thus integrated the art space in its physical materiality with the urban space and its local history.” - Jane Ren, Senior Scientist of Social and Cultural Geography at the University of Zurich, excerpt from "Engaging Comparative Urbanism | Art Spaces in Beijing and Berlin, Bristol University Press, 2021

 

Moment, Moving Moments at The Factory in Dashilar, Beijing Design Week with Creative Director Aric Chen, Beijing 2012