Organized by Jingru Cyan Cheng and Chen Zhan (CCA-Mellon Multidisciplinary Research fellows) and Mengfan Wang, The Transversal Alliances symposium convenes boundary-pushing practices across architecture, anthropology, filmmaking and performance. The event is an extension of the research project Ripple Ripple Rippling—a long-term commitment in Wuhan, China where they use documentary film, performance, and experimental fieldwork to engage with villagers who are subject to labour and resource extraction. Seeking to challenge reductive narratives of fractured landscapes and marginalized communities, invited symposium speakers present situated, process-oriented, and transdisciplinary approaches.

The CCA contributes the first documentary from the ongoing Groundwork film and exhibition series on contemporary ecological practices. Into the Island follows architect, Xu Tiantian of DnA as she and her team develop a set of interventions to mediate between pressures of heritage and tourism within a fragile marine environment. The screening will lead into a discussion on the CCA’s approach to film as a curatorial tool within their research and exhibition projects.

For further information and free tickets see here.