“Gigantic buildings which mercilessly siege old typical neighborhoods. Glorification of capitalist achievements and marginalization of the people who helped building them. Power and neglect. …”



Shanghai, as head of the Chinese Dragon, is in a frantic run towards fierce capitalism, especially noticeable in a boom in the building industry.

Numberless buildings are raised, all similar in height, colour and design, all repetitive in their poor and simplistic design. Mere stereotypes, look-alikes to those existing in other cities.

There are people leading difficult lives in these circumstances. They are the witnesses of an airless hostile Shanghai, surrounded by alleged civilisation which deprives them of their right to be and empties them out of their essence; they are then easily implanted ideas which pass as progress.

In short, this is an ambitious transformation program meant to prove the unquestionable rise of China above the superpowers. But it leaves behind less visible elements, such as places and people that lose their identities. A schizophrenic double personality reflects on a fascinating city which is ultimately a stage inhabited by wandering characters who do not know their part.

A deliberate trend towards uniformity and lack of identity dominates the world now, creating spaces full of loneliness and contrasts.

It seems logical that places should change their identities and turn blurredly into something different, but not that they should become no-places.