With Another Lens
Wang Tuo introduces Intensity in Ten Cities, a film installation that invites audiences to engage with the historicity of ten architectural sites in China
Film stills from Intensity in Ten Cities can be seen in the print publication How Modern: Biographies of Architecture in China 1949–1979, edited by Shirley Surya and Li Hua.
Appearing throughout the exhibition alongside archival documentation, Intensity in Ten Cities reflects upon the first three decades of the PRC while spanning three temporal coordinates: the post-Cultural Revolution years, the early 1990s, and the present. With a nonlinear cinematic structure, it tells the story of a woman raised by a single mother who becomes an architect navigating a turbulent relationship with her female partner while researching ten architectural sites constructed between 1949 and 1979 across northern and southern China. Reflecting the volatility of these decades, the sites embody contradictions of collective memory and lasting trauma. Their recurring “vanishing point” unsettles and guides the protagonist’s discoveries, revealing not only an alternative ideological narrative absent from official architectural history but also a hidden love story between her late mother and another woman—an entanglement shaped by turbulent times.
Film still of the Sino-Soviet Friendship Building from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of Huagang Guanyu Park, Hangzhou from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of Reed Flute Cave, Guilin, from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of the Guangzhou Water Pavilion from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of Caoyang Xincun from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of Dazhai, Shanxi Province from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of Tongi University Auditorium from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of Baiyun Mountain Villa Hotel, Hangzhou from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of Shougang Iron and Steel Mill, Beijing from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Film still of the Fusuijing Building, Beijing from Intensity in Ten Cities, Wang Tuo © Wang Tuo
Contrasting with sweeping ideological narratives and the socialist-collectivist label imposed on this period of architectural history, Intensity in Ten Cities reintroduces us to these sites and structures—some highly altered over time yet still inhabited—through unseen emotions and personal stories, revealing diverse and complex conditions of architecture and sexual minorities obscured at the time. The buildings are witnesses to undefinable and long-overlooked sentiments and serve as portals for later generations to re-enter history and memory. Though these structures no longer carry the historical consciousness, they—like neglected emotions—leave traces within ruins and fragments. By delving into these intricate spatial forms and exposing silenced truths, the work restores authentic yet unspoken realities of those marginalized by gender or politics while reopening the question of systemic culpability in history.
