China

Reclaiming a collective monument as shared place: The Memory Project of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge

The Chinese installation considers the emotional significance of an iconic structure and how it became part of the nation’s collective memory. The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was completed in 1968 during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution and was the first modern bridge in China to be designed and built without foreign assistance.

The exhibition explores how the bridge became a national symbol of technological achievement, its image disseminated through mass media, such as propaganda posters and low-cost photography. Since 2014, LanD Studio has collaborated with historians and local artists on the Memory Project of the Nanjing Yangtze Bridge, amassing an archive of artefacts, memories and audio and visual evidence – a selection of which is on display here.

Credits:

• Administering Body: Nanjing University
• Design Team: LanD Studio
• Curator: Andong Lu
• Supporting Bodies: Jiangsu Art Museum, Shanghai Railway Administration (Nanjing Section)