September 18, 2020
Two exhibitions including a student magazine exhibition and an alumni exhibition are now live on first floor, Design Building in the Department of Architecture and Design at XJTLU.
Under the Pandemic: This World and That World
Exhibition by GRID Magazine
During this summer, the editorial team of GRID (XJTLU architecture student magazine) devoted themselves to reflecting on the environment swallowed by the pandemic and created five articles that reflected their situations. The multi-media exhibition shows these five articles that reflects the first issue’s theme “Under the Pandemic: This World and That World”, and it also demonstrates the students’ unique perspectives to the wider public.
The editorial team began to prepare for it during the summer. Seven students along with Dr Jiawen Han, lecturer in the Department, have been involved in preparation of this exhibition. The exhibition has been supported by the Department of Architecture and Design.
“We usually have image-intensive exhibition in the DB building. However, this might be the first time to have text-intensive exhibition here, for making a unique reading experience,” said Dr Han.
“It feels like we are being tested in many ways in this new reality, through social distancing, the new relationship between private and public spaces, and the conflict between virtual and physical environments,” said Dr Han.
“This is also discussed in the articles being exhibited, who were tested further in making this exhibition. For example, we have attempted to leave enough distance between the panels, and at the same time, we do want to maintain the tension between the panels as a continuous experience,” she added.
2020 XJTLU Architecture Alumni Exhibition
The Exhibition takes place this year both online and on-campus. Twenty-two alumni are presenting their works produced after graduating from the XJTLU architecture undergraduate programme. The exhibition displays postgraduate studio projects from some of the most prestigious universities in Europe, Australia and the US, as well as projects created while working in architectural practice.
The opening event of the exhibition on September 16 was also the launch day of the alumni website (https://www.xjtlu-arch-alumni.net), which will serve in the future as a platform not only to host alumni works but also to facilitate the sharing and communication between students and alumni.
“The exhibition is a unique opportunity for obtaining an overview of how well our alumni have been doing in recent years. To see the diversity of works - all at a very high level of quality - is very impressive,” said Dr Claudia Westermann, Senior Associate Professor in the Department and coordinater of the exhibition.
“A year ago, it would not have come to our mind to organise an alumni exhibition in an onsite-online hybrid mode. Now, hybrid is the new normal. It has offered new opportunities, such as reconnecting with our alumni who are located all over the world. Our first Alumni Conversations have shown that there are excellent opportunities for current students to gain insights about the possibilities for their career after XJTLU,” she added.
By Yi Qian
Photos by Yanyin Ni and Yi Qian
September 18, 2020