In the summer of 2022, DnA was invited to design a potential museum building on Meizhou Island, located off the coast of principal architect Xu Tiantian’s hometown of Putian. Famous as the site which gave birth to the cult of the sea goddess Mazu, the island is an environment where religious pilgrimages and mass tourism, traditional farming techniques, and strict conservation policies co-exist in a fragile balance.

进岛方向/Into the Island follows Xu in her discovery of essential elements, pressure points, and issues on the destabilizing terrain that is the ocean and its delicate ecosystem.

Regulated by the timing of the tides and the rituals of sea cultivations, Meizhou Island is the set where ideas for a diffused life museum and a series of precise interventions were conceived in dialogue with and in service to villagers, fisherfolks, and experts in marine biology. Into the Island is a snapshot of a fluid design process, a story of encounters, a narrative composed through the fragments of an evolving culture and fluctuating landscape.

进岛方向/Into the Island is the first chapter of Groundwork, a three-part film and exhibition series exploring the conceptual development and field research of contemporary architects cultivating alternative modes of engagement with new project sites.

2024 | 41 min
Digital film
First film of a three-part series

Directed by Joshua Frank

in Chinese (Mandarin) and English, with French and English subtitles

Screenings:
• Film as Curatorial Tool, e-flux, New York, United States (5 October 2024)
• Architektur.Film.Sommer 2024, Vienna, Austria (14 August 2024)