Events

[New Theater Text Based on Luxelakes Community] is the second stage of the theater director and screenwriter Xiao Jing’s residency in Luxelakes. In the first stage, Xiao Jing built a workshop based on the play “Our Town” and prepared to rehearse it. However, after repeated consideration in the second stage, Xiao Jing decided that instead of directly rehearsing “Our Town”, she should create a theatrical text about “Our town” based on the situation of Luxelakes community and individual stories, and retain what she saw and felt here and creative inspiration.
Therefore, Xiao Jing hopes to get to know the individuals here through interviews and one-to-one co-creation activities, and create their stories again with permission. If you are willing to share your own story and would like to introduce her more to the people here, you are welcome to sign up.

Water, the gift of the universe to the Earth, is the source of life! The drifting snowflakes are mercifully accepted by the sacred mountains at the third pole of the earth and become the pure main color of the holy pure land of the snowy plateau!
Each flawless white snow mountain, frozen millions of years of sacred water treasure, and little by little accumulated into the size and shape of the holy lake.
Each sacred lake to the great mother’s pure love, their milk to tinkling springs, to babbling brooks or to the vast rivers, nourishing the vibrant vitality of thousands of lives on earth, and ultimately gathered and fused into the blue ocean!
The ocean nourishes all kinds of life with the sound of the mother’s voice, and at the same time, it rises to nourish the freshwater air of life on land! Once again operated into the ever-changing auspicious clouds, floating high towards the holy snowy plateau – the third pole of the Earth, once again in a reincarnation of the way to nourish and connect more life ……

Dandan, the owner of Absurd Street Town, shouted and selected some new residents to become “qualified wizards”. Each candidate will receive a wizard hat distributed by Dandan, and they will work magic with Dandan, drawing their own wizard symbol to add the first magic color to the town. Dandan revealed that the originally sold out absurd town real estate has recently released vacant seats. The conditions for moving in are that you only need to draw your imagination of the town on the small wooden chair with Dandan on the weather report, and you can complete the application and take away a small wooden chair. Be sure to take good care of this chair, it’s the best proof of who you are as a townsman!

Our community is moving towards a sustainable future, and your voice matters! Join our environmental questionnaire to turn “garbage” into “resources” and create a greener Luhu Lake together. This is your chance to share your environmental ideas and let’s shape the sustainable vision of Luhu Lake together. Whether you live, work, or visit a friend, your opinion is important to us.

Sound Manipulation of Matter is a concert proposal by Brazilian sound artist and musician Marcelo Armani that runs through the concepts of electroacoustic music, concrete music, Krautrock and Ambient, employing experimental compositional techniques in the fields of sound art, improvisation and iPad music.
Supported by interfaces, music modeling and editing resources, analog and digital languages, artists are constantly shifting and reproducing intentions for improvisation. In this case, the outcome of each concert is unique. Each element dedicated to sound creation is rooted in the philosophy of ephemerality, action in the moment, the “cause of error”, and a continuous listening to the materiality of sound as principles and feedback in the construction of the narrative process.
Sound Manipulation of Matter is a sensory invitation that suggests the deconstruction of sound abstraction and inserts into the realm of perception of the plasticity and spatial nature of this physical phenomenon, interacting with the different forms and means of the sculptural practice of volume and traces on the material of space and time.

Instant Composition for Chengdu’s founded objects (Speaking Object Orchestra, Phase 1). Acoustic performance with prepared objects on a table.
Sounds are always in situ. They always take life in a physical space but they also carry in them the memory of a space. Everyday objects and sounds are part of our memories and they participate in the construction of our identity.

The acoustic performance moves found items into sounds instruments and is created from a minimal instrumentarium made of small things collected by myself in several locations of Chengdu – as Quingcheng mountain, Luxelakes or the Down Town. The gestures sequences build a visual and sound experience dealing with potentials of the place. The surface of my table becomes a miniature territory where the strategies of displacement shape an instant composition that appears and transforms constantly as well as Chengdu’s urban landscape. Based on cyclic gestures in a resonant space, actions accelerates the wear of these objects through frictions, while resounded the space and stretching the time perception. It binds audience, locations and memories together to recreates a new temporal and affectiv narrative.

How does the city’s landscape affect our lives? How can we carry out these very necessary non-essential leisure activities? Have you ever doubted the reality of the real world you live in?
Inspired by the 17th-century literati Wen Zhenheng’s “Chronicles of Long Things” and Sun Kehong’s “Idle Qing Lessons”, the works are inspired by the 17th-century literati Wen Zhenheng’s “Chronicles of Long Things” and Sun Kehong’s “Idle Qing Lessons”, and are based on literati activities such as night tours, rests, painting appreciation, and tea tasting.
Throughout his life, Wen Zhenheng collected, evaluated, and described the activities of the literati elite of his time in their daily lives, jokingly saying that what he recorded were superfluous useless things and activities (long things). Nowadays, when art is no longer an elite activity, when we all become clusters of data under the control of algorithms, living in a world that emphasizes productivity and takes competition and progress as the rules of the game, we advocate that human beings have the universal right to waste time and energy in useless and excessive activities. We hope to draw on the spirit of Man Chun-hang’s record of “The Chronicle of Long Things”, pay attention to the seemingly ordinary and insignificant things in daily life, and appreciate the beauty in them.
Based on the demo of “Anthology of Useless Activities”, the Switchoffthelight Art Group plans to create a new local version, combining the characteristics of Chengdu’s local “leisure” and “fireworks”, and constructing an experience path according to the characteristics of the site, inviting participants to enter the “theater in the city”, open their senses, and embark on a journey of discovery. Participatory performance breaks down the boundaries of spectatorship, contributing to the work through joint participation, and the audience’s participatory experience and response become part of the performance aesthetics.
“Drift” is an instinctive exploration of urban space, a technique that actively shuttles between different environments, and “listening” opens a channel. We hope that through this residency, we can intervene in life with a stroll, and inspire a new vision of the city and life. This will also be Switchoffthelight’s first restart in three years.

Hot pot is a slow cooking method which features a simmering pot of soup stock at the dining table, and a variety of raw ingredients. The warm atmosphere makes people feel comfortable and relaxed by chatting, eating and drinking around the table. Here, hotpot serves as a tool of communication and establishes connections. While eating together represents a way of socially interacting, food sharing suggests social integration of people from different backgrounds. For instance, artist Rirkrit Tiravanija cooked Thai meals for visitors in 303 Gallery (1992), providing participants with ‘a specific social space’. Comparatively, more recent socially engaged art projects have embodied social values for the public to contemplate their own situatedness, such as Conflict Kitchen (Rubin & Weleski, 2010). Hotpot culture is very popular in the Chinese community in the UK and Jiang carried out an art practice related to the Hotpot Banquet in London: Hanxuan Jiang, Kai Wang and Bingyang Li are at a happy, relaxing hot pot banquet (2019). They cooperated in cooking and shooting while sharing opinions on filmmaking, food and emotions.
By sharing food, we can activate the communication between individuals and reunderstand the way we get along with others. The project uses hot pot as a medium to open a deep dialogue between individuals, trying to understand the relationship between people and find our place in daily life. As the signature food of Chengdu, hot pot creates a sense of cultural connection and familiarity among strangers sitting together. It allows some people to meet and have a sincere exchange.
The Hotpot Banquet will invite six participants who join Hanxuan Jiang’s “Conversations in the Kitchen” project, and the public is welcome to join the talk after Hot Pot Banquet.

Siesta means noon break in Spanish, which comes from the Latin word hora sexta. In the Roman calendar, it corresponds to the sixth hour starting from early morning.

Artist Marcelo Armani invites those who are interested in attending the concert to relax for a lunch break. In a period of 2 hours, the artist will use the frequency layer of the low-frequency spectrum, combined with sound clips collected in nature, to reproduce and create a series of music in real-time for the audience to listen to and fall asleep.
During these 2 hours, participants are free to enter and exit the room, and everyone is free to enjoy the concert, or just use this time to relax and take a nap before starting other work. The inspiration comes from the artist’s personal practice of listening to electronic music works before going to bed, and this event also breaks the characteristics of traditional forms of electronic and experimental music. Therefore, this is an experience based on free sharing, focusing on the sensory level provided by sound.

The film “Kekexili: Moutain Patrol” tells the story of journalist Gayu and the mountain rangers who fought tenaciously against Tibetan antelope poachers and even sacrificed their lives in order to protect the Tibetan antelope and ecological environment in Hoh Xil. In 2004, the film won the Jury Prize at the 17th Tokyo International Film Festival and the Best Film at the 41st Taiwan Golden Horse Film Awards. In 2006, it won the Best Asian Film at the 25th Hong Kong Film Awards.
In the 1990s, because of his relationship with his mentor Jessang Sonamdajie and the Tibetan antelope, TASHI DORJEE.HASHI went deep into Hoh Xil 12 times and crossed the no-man’s land of Qiangtang for 21 days, leaving behind many Thoughts…Natural thinking and choices bring natural value, but the value of nature is by no means just the value of satisfying human greed. TASHI DORJEE.HASHI will tell the story behind Hoh Xil based on the movie “Kekexili: Moutain Patrol” and his personal experience in no man’s land. Explore the relationship between nature and human beings and the essential concepts in environmental and ecological protection with ecological protector Tian Feng.

IMAGO offers a two-part, immersive, multisensory journey that delves into the complexities of fractal identities and transcendent experiences. This groundbreaking performance combines elements of visual art, choreography, scenography, and soundscapes to present a transformative narrative. Unfolding in two distinct but interconnected episodes—IMAGO-Corps Fractal: PART I and IMAGO – Odyssey: PART II—the performance unfolds across two unique venues, each contributing to the overarching narrative.

We navigate through different cultural backgrounds and values, where the individual is fragmented, fluid, changeable, and displaced. How can individuals in post-society access stable affective connections, a deep sense of belonging, and a reliable, ideal life?
Emotion is a vast domain. It can be the romance felt between lovers, the warmth and happiness shared among close friends, the strength and heroism found within a collective, or the serendipitous delightful encounter with strangers. This is a continuously clustering, dynamic process of interaction. Hanxuan Jiang hopes to genuinely feel her existence through these encounters, connections, and emotional bonds. She believes filming is not just about documenting conversations, emotions, and moments in time; it is a gateway to explore sincere interactions with others. The camera helps measure the boundaries and trust between me and ‘them’, the filmed and captured. Personal life seems very individualistic, but the conversations, reflections, and introspections encountered in daily life inevitably reflect society at large. These private matters reveal individual dilemmas, struggles, aspirations, determination, wanderings, and imaginations, unfolding genuine conversations amidst subtle emotions.
We hope that participants will resonate with the flowing images and magnified individual emotions.
We invite you to join us in a nocturnal daydream.

What are the other possibilities that a plastic water bottle can have after fulfilling the mission as a container？
It can be left on the street to harm the environment, or collecting dust in a dark dumpster where no one can see.
In an artist’s creative mind, it has more potential.

“Conversation in the Kitchen” is a three-year “participatory video” art project by A4 artist-in-residence Jiang Hanxuan in Latvia and Oxford, UK: understanding people’s daily interactions through the specific space of the kitchen.
As an indispensable space in the house, the kitchen is a familiar but easily overlooked “mediator of emotional communication”. In this project, the artist hopes that through the conversation in the kitchen, people can draw out the connection of individual emotions, think about the importance of the kitchen in people’s interactions, and make everyone rethink the function, function and boundary of the kitchen space.
This project not only hopes that the participants will be the “subjects” in the short film, but also expects everyone to experience the process of filming and even editing together. I hope that everyone can create a relaxed environment where they can express their ideas equally.

Step into a space where stories become tangible homes. Here, we craft costumes reflecting our identities, individually we’re homes, but together, a city-community. Through movement and shared tales, we celebrate unity. Join us, and be part of a tapestry where every story strengthens our collective harmony.

“The Second Game” is an invited work for the “Drama Online” unit of the 2021 Beijing International Youth Theatre Festival and the offline performance of the Hangzhou Theatre Festival, based on a juvenile delinquency case that occurred in the Liulichang area of Beijing in 2006. The work attempts to retrace the brutal abuse and killing of the past through the perspective of the abuser’s peers.
“Fifteen years ago, the case sparked a lively discussion about urban change, youth education, and people began to think about the impact of urbanization on the next generation. Fifteen years later, inspired by Milo Rau and other documentary theatres, I decided to invite six teenagers aged 13-17 to join the work and re-enter the case from their perspective. During the rehearsal process, their authenticity and honesty made me feel at times happy, sometimes sentimental, sometimes frightened, and even self-doubting. I find that they differ from adults only in that they have not yet learned to pretend to be self-controlled. In the end, she decided to give up all the creative ‘meanings’ such as the structure, mechanism, and additional meaning that she had thought about in advance, and only reached the connection between the case and reality through these actors.
The arrogance of adults can cause harm, consciously or unconsciously, and adults often forget that they have also been hurt by this self-righteousness. It’s not a ‘pleasant’ piece, but it might remind you of memories you thought didn’t exist. ”

Let’s meet the vehicle equipped with chatgptwriting inspiration engine.It travels between Luhu and Yulin,inviting you to roam the space and write freely.

Exploring origins and belonging, we constantly search for the footsteps of our ancestors and the roots of our cultural identity.Embracing love and loss, we continue to delve into the gradually fading memories of our family history.From Germany to China, from family to lineage, from cultural identity to social relationships, each of our stories contributes to a vast collective memory. Where do these stories begin? And how do “I” find my place among them?
Yannic Han Biao Federer’s novel “TAO” is a story about origins and belonging, love and loss. It follows his search for traces along the fractures of his biography and the gaps in history, in Germany and Hong Kong. He started writing in order to make sense of his own family history. His novel “TAO” asks questions about how to narrate collective memory, who does memory belong to, and what is the commitment of memory.
On September 16, Yannic Han Biao Federer, the winner of the 2022 Text Game Award, will be visiting Chengdu. We have invited translator and writer Li Hao, as well as novelist, playwright, and poet Yu Song, to engage in a dialogue with him. The authors will discuss and share their perspectives on topics such as cultural identity and social relationships.

From the Chinese class when I was a student, to the diary of my circle of friends after entering the social network, writing is no stranger to everyone.

Maybe you’re a word creator who uses a pen to express your observations of the world. Maybe you are a lover of words, you love to read, and although you have never written a complete work, you can feel the emotions poured out by different words with enthusiasm.

In this impromptu writing activity, we welcome all friends who are interested in words, and we will conduct a series of AI-assisted writing games in a free atmosphere, build a fictional story with the partners present, throw aside boundaries, and easily collide with the imagination of words.

It is just over a month away from the first A RE-CREATE creation gathering at A4 International Art Residency Center, and new ideas are still emerging. With the festive season just around the corner and the creative momentum unabated, we’re going to have a surprise in hand. A4 International Residency Art Center wants to perform the magic of the unexpected, and invites everyone to work together to recite the mantra of creation and offer a surprise gift to the home.

So, what is the mantra? ——“Re ! Re ! Re ! ”· Recycle: discard-recycle-reuse, and so on. We will collect used clothes from you and use them as materials to create special gifts. We call on everyone not to hesitate to continue to hide in the deepest part of the wardrobe, rest assured, you will not really lose them, we will turn the baggage into a gift, the more baggage, the more gifts! · Reimagination: Old clothes connect our emotions and memories, the white shirt I wore in college is the smell of the old days, and there is a slight confusion behind the longing of the first suit…… Together, we can explore the stories behind these garments and reshape the image of their owners. Reassemble: The cohesion of the community, which is formed by the subjective initiative of disconnected individuals. If people are contributing their part to nuclear fission, and if people have not yet seen the tremendous energy that fusion brings, then the festival is the perfect time to gather people.

Let’s start with the first step in the magic – old clothes recycling! We will recycle old clothes hidden in the depths of the wardrobe, they will be used by artists to make gifts, old clothes that carry emotional memories will create magic about community cohesion with artists, we will turn baggage into gifts, the more baggage, the more gifts!

Fashionista’s! Artists Guda Koster and Frans van Tartwijk will let you make your own colourful and spectacular garment within two hours without sewing.

Shifting Images was started by the artist Michel Marang and it is an overall musical and visual program, consisting of six new pieces for clarinets, electronics and photo sequences.
As diverse as the composers and their styles are, the thread through this program is formed by the shifting patterns that occur in every single piece. They are visualized in photo sequences, each with its theme, which will be projected simultaneously with the live performance of the pieces. The relationship between music and image can be entirely different in each piece, and based on form, concept or just text. However, music has always been the starting point. As a result, the image does not have the dominating position that it so often has in film, video and other art forms.

“Re! Re ! Re ! ”· Recycle: discard-recycle-reuse, and so on. We will collect used clothes from you and use them as materials to create special gifts. We urge everyone not to hesitate to continue to hide in the deepest part of the wardrobe, rest assured, you will not really lose them, we will turn the baggage into a gift, the more baggage, the more gifts!· Reimagination: Old clothes connect our emotions and memories, the white shirt I wore in college is the smell of the old days, and there is a slight confusion behind the longing of the first suit…… Together, we can explore the stories behind these garments and reinvent the image of their owners.· Reassemble: The cohesion of the community, which is formed by the subjective initiative of disconnected individuals. If people are contributing their part to nuclear fission, and if people have not yet seen the tremendous energy that fusion brings, then the festival is the perfect time to gather people.

December, the end of the year, is a time to look back on the past and look forward to the future. Come and join us at the Harvard Happiness Tea Party hosted by the A4 Residency Art Center! This three-part tea party will take you to learn more about Harvard Happiness and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Here, you will not only gain knowledge, but also enhance your well-being through a variety of art healing methods. At the tea party, you can share your bad experiences and peak moments. Through communication and listening, we will grow together and inject a lot of luck into 2025.

December, the final month of the year, is a time for reflection on the past and anticipation for the future. We invite you to join the Harvard Happiness Power Up Tea Party at the A4 Residency Art Center! This event features three sessions that will guide you in exploring the Harvard Happiness Studies and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in detail.
During the tea party, you will not only gain knowledge but also enhance your happiness through various art therapy methods. You will have the opportunity to share both your challenging experiences and your peak moments. Through open communication and attentive listening, we will grow together and bring abundant good fortune into 2025.

Eternity and moments are intertwined, starlight and music resonate. Sift out the classic notes in the river of time and savor the touching moments in the long years. At night, under the stars, listen to the beautiful melodies and dance with the music. The delicate soul of the song is interpreted to the depths of the listener’s heart. The harmony and beauty of music across time and space give hope to a dull mind or a tired body. In the midst of the world, there is peace and belonging in the vastness of the heavens and the earth.
In the height of summer in August, Daisy, who is elegant, sensual and loves life, will interpret the beauty of classical music with her violin. Together with the pianist in the Residency Parlour, she will demonstrate the ingenious combination of keyboard and bowed strings.

In ensemble chamber music, the piano, violin, and drums respectively play the roles of the muscles, bones, and heart of the musical composition. Different instruments interpret various layers of the musical piece through distinct expressive logics in the arrangement, and their players have different habits of expression. When these musicians, each representing different layers and textures of the music, pick up the same instrument, the frame drum, what new chemical reactions might their unique musical logics bring to the music?

During the open studio, Lucija will present the results of her residency: project ‘365’ – clothes captured for a month lay on cardboard sheets in order to reconsider their meaning and need to construct the user’s image.

How do you turn an improvised idea consisting of just a couple of notes played on a piano into an elegiac piece of music for orchestra, while making sure it fits the scene it is intended to support?
And how do you sleep at night when you know that an already tight schedule has basically been cut in half because your taking over from someone else who has been working on that project before but didn’t get approved?
Taking a film that is both, part fictional, part documentary and it’s music that is both, part symphonic and part minimalistic in nature as an example, we will hear some of this music performed live, take a look at its creation and discuss a number of common questions related to the work of a film composer. These can be both artistic or pragmatic in nature. And few of the answers might surprise you.

Liucija Kvašytė is a fashion designer and researcher from Lithuania whose work focuses on criticizing consumerism in the fashion world. In the modern consumerist society, people have mountains of clothes, but only wear a few items.
The workshop “Wardrobe as a Tool for Activism” invites the audience to share their favorite clothes and related stories and draw them, in order to push the participants to rethink their relationship with clothes.

During the workshop you will learn the basic understanding for intaglio printing. Traditionally intaglio prints are made with copper or zink plates by engraving the image manually or chemically onto the surface. We will use our everyday waste material to transform them into printing plates by cutting them with scissors and scalpels and modify them with engravings tools.
Participants should collect their own waste like flat plastics, foil, sheet metal and milk cartons. Any flat or soft material can be used as a printing plate.

In this art scene, Chinese dynamic installation artist Li Sizhu and German musician Matthias Petsche will jointly present art scenes and exchanges that integrate images, film music, improvisations and art installations in multiple dimensions. The audience will immerse themselves in the multi-sensory art experience brought by mixed media and projection.

Dreams play an extremely important role for each of us as individuals as well as collectively as societies. They let us envision future, connect to the past, explore unconscious hopes and wishes.

The audio installation invites all visitors to participate in either or both of two ways. Firstly to create a personal soundtrack for their dreams from an endless stream of musical layers which are in turn created from a huge number of heavily manipulated and reshaped snippets taken from Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 55 No. 1 in f Minor. Secondly, the installation offers a safe space for sharing dreams, ideas, hopes, or wishes. They’ll become an abstract and untraceable part of the artwork.

Every child has their own little kingdom. As the 10th iSTART Children’s Arts Festival comes to a close, A4 resident artist Ge Yulu will host a “Flags Fluttering” workshop with the community’s children on August 28. In this workshop, Ge Yulu will guide the children in creating flags for their own “Kingdom of Kids.”
The children will have the opportunity to select colors, carve prints, and ultimately create a unique flag for their kingdom. During this process, we aim to encourage the children to unleash their creativity and imagination of their own kingdom, expressing their understanding of themselves and the world, dreams and the future, through vibrant colors, patterns, and symbols.
Through the children’s creative thinking and hands-on skills, each flag will represent the unique spirit of each kingdom, presented in the purest and simplest form, igniting a passionate spark of thought and self-expression.

The Artists’ Studio Open Day is an excellent opportunity for the public to gain an insight into artistic creation. Visitors can experience the artists’ creative environment and interact directly with them to learn about the stories and inspirations behind their works. The event showcases a diverse range of art forms, including painting, sculpture, video, installation, and experimental art, providing a rich visual experience. International artists bring different cultural perspectives and promote cross-cultural exchange. Aims to popularise the arts, support artists and enhance community connections. It is not only an opportunity to view art but also a platform to inspire and expand horizons.
The Studio Open Day is also one of the classic programs that A4 Residency continues to promote, where visitors will have the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the artist’s working environment and creative process, integrating creativity into their daily lives. A total of 6 artists/groups from China, Germany, Holland, Japan, and other countries and regions will open their creative spaces to the public, and the public will have the opportunity to meet them face-to-face, and directly experience their work and emotional experience during their residency in Chengdu.

People rely on sound every day to feel and experience life, and have a habitual attitude towards our use of sound, but in reality if at some point you get serious about understanding and feeling sound, you will reap the rewards of creating the future from sound.Isn’t that what creation itself is all about? We dissect it, understand its essence, and then artificially construct and create something that has no direct relationship or connection to it, and that is creation.So this time, our artist Carlo will lead SKD’s future artists to experience a sound workshop, to feel the precursor of technological development and integration into life.Of course, the event itself is also very high in “content”. You will learn about audio technology, experiment with it, and of course, the most exciting and innovative part is the interdisciplinary application. Artist will be able to interact with the physics of sound to understand its impact.This event is for anyone who is interested in or enjoys sound.

Moss Music:

At HeHuaChi 荷花池 market in downtown Chengdu you can buy almost anything, and on a visit there we immediately fell for the fake moss fabric that we found. Later on, we decided to use it for a new work. We built a wall-like structure, covered with moss, that will be quietly and autonomously moving around, as if it is on remote control. We even provided it with soft laid-back self-made music, which can be heard as it moves on by. The wall may merge with the plants and the park, but will also be a surreal presence. The Moss Music was made for the LUXE Lakes area that is perfectly designed and built, and where soft music can be heard everywhere. In the context of the park of the Jinsha Site Museum it might also bring to mind overgrown romantic ruins or remnants of disappeared structures.

Duration of the performance will be 45 to 60 minutes.

Velvet City:

In 1998 we were in Chengdu as budget travelers, and in 2024 we returned as artists, for the A4 residency. China has changed so enormously, that we wanted to make a work that focuses on what is still here of the Chineseness of China. We bought the bright red fabric with the elegant flower pattern, that we used in this work. It was interesting to hear that this fabric has a very distinct meaning. It is associated with how women used to dress in the past, with the North-Eastern part of China or the countryside in general. We also used red fringes and made a miniature city covered in red velvet that is placed on top of the sculpture. The living sculpture has no face and neither front nor back side. We made a 1-minute soundtrack for it, which is based on a traditional song that we learned from a group of elderly people, who we met when they made music in a park. The figure will stand still, and will come to life whenever the music plays. Its movements are subtle and slow. It might also bring to mind the columns of Tibetan temples or figures from the Sichuan opera.

The starting point for our second work for our Chengdu residency was the long strings of artificial flowers in bright yellow and orange, that we found at the He Hua Chi market. We started with making the flower garments. Having made the heads, a more grotesque and strange aspect was added, as if they were characters from a Japanese Anime film, that are both cute and scary. It is said that Wandering Spirits wander aimlessly through the world, but are neither friendly nor unfriendly.

The two figures in yellow and orange will walk, following a rhythm of five steps forward and three steps backward as if they are doing a simple ritual dance.

In this workshop-talk we look into a playful and relaxing experience with nonhumans. We get in touch with plants, water and materials like threads and speak about weaving connections between humans and nonhumans.

In the depth of the forest, sunlight filters through the foliage, casting dappled patterns, and the shadows of the trees sway gently, revealing the hidden veins of life in the interplay of light and shadow. Amid the damp mist, there are delicate murmurs—rainfall, the chirping of insects, and the gentle flow of a stream.

The sounds of life are nature’s own symphony. At night, when the city’s hustle and bustle comes to a close, nature begins its whispers in the A4 Residency’s living room. Because all living beings share a resonant heartbeat, even when we are in the city, hearing its voice can plunge us into an endless dream it weaves, tracing back to ancient, primordial melodies.

In this fast-paced city, we’re often too busy chasing the new skyline of a skyscraper or searching for a quiet, perfectly green patch of grass. But there’s a unique feast of art that doesn’t look at these obvious beauties, but invites us to delve deeper into the often-overlooked stories of the land and the land below.

The theme comes from a story related to the water ecosystem here. Liao Bowen, an expert on the water environment of Foothill Lake, once told Noemi that his job entails monitoring the lake by boat, and that he can see the different seasons of Foothill Lake from underwater. In addition, some fish would come out of the water early in the morning to breathe, but when people came out of the water, they would no longer be visible. They will hide and dive into the depths of the lake. In the evening, you will see them again. Foothill Lake is like a life, it grows and changes, but for most of us it stays hidden.

Event Description

“The magic of the elastic band lies in its tension and resilience, able to stretch up to three times its original length before breaking. It is an object that both bears and captures energy, much like our lives.”

During the performance, the elastic band stretches as the artist moves, while he cuts the ropes wound around his body one by one until the vase at the other end falls. In previous performances, the artist has emphasized the process over the outcome, leaving the fate of the vase—whether it shatters or not—an open question.

Guest Introduction

Sebastián Mahaluf: Born in 1976, Sebastián Mahaluf is a post-war and contemporary artist from Chile and a professor of visual arts. Since 1998, his works have been exhibited in countries including Chile, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, China, Italy, France, the Philippines, Scotland, Finland, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Turkey. With a career spanning over two decades, he has served as a visual arts professor at four of Chile’s top universities, bringing extensive educational experience to his practice. His works have been showcased in prominent galleries and museums, such as BronxArtSpace. Mahaluf has received numerous accolades, including the Honorary Award from the French Museum of Visual Arts, funding from Chile’s National Arts Fund, and selection for the World Bank Art Program.

Life is a river that never ceases to flow, and we are all travelers crossing it.

— Henry David Thoreau

In the lengthy twilight of the summer solstice, as the sunlight filters through the slats of the blinds, casting its lingering rays within the living room, we will capture every shimmering moment of the river of life through music and imagery.

As Thoreau said, our lives are in constant flux, and with the accompaniment of music, we will explore the depths and breadth of aging, revealing the microscopic world of cellular senescence through a unique perspective, and expanding the canvas of life. When the last note of the Sofa Sonata fades away, and the final hue of the imagery vanishes, life will return to its usual course. Yet, the other side beyond the rainbow remains in our souls.

For the fifth session of A4 Sofa Sonata , we invited Dr. Bai Lin from the West China School of Medicine at Sichuan University, and Li Chuang, the music director of the Sofa Sonata, to bring us a novel experience that combines visual and auditory elements. The microscopic world forms the source of human life: blood vessels, nerves, cells, kidneys… Bai Lin reconstructs, prints, and colors tissue slices outside the organism to create images. When these images are projected in the A4 living room, accompanied by piano music that flows smoothly and occasionally jumps to match the visuals, no one can guess the true tissue origins of the images.

On the occasion of May 20th approaching, the fourth installment of the Sofa Sonata invited cellist Zhao Mingwei, the principal cellist of the Sichuan Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra, and pianist Li Chuang, the music director of the Sofa Sonata, as well as students from the Sunflower Opera Performance Society to bring us healing and wonderful music notes. Before the event began, we welcomed residents of different ages in the community; some relaxed on the floor, some sat on sofas or around dining tables, enveloped by music in the warm light of the lounge. The entire performance included popular anime scores and also featured “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” by Ryuichi Sakamoto. At the end of the concert, before the final piece, Zhao spoke about the moving essence of music:

“The inspiration for music comes from the late Romanticism in Germany, where true love is completely incompatible with the secular world, so often love and death are similar concepts. Our understanding of death refers to the physical body, because as long as we live in this world, our bodies, our thoughts are limited by this subjective and objective binary opposition. But true love completely breaks through this body and time and space, with the two individuals eventually merging into each other, without the concept of time and space. In fact, this song describes two people completely lost in each other’s eyes, which is the dissolution I perceive, dissolving in each other’s eyes, forming an eternal existence.”

In this journey of life, time and love are ancient themes with infinite forms and expressions. They can be hidden in the silent care between family members, in the tacit support between friends, or in the goodwill of strangers. The broad concept of love and time transcends personal relationships, flowing sustainably between every living being.

Whether it’s music, art, nature, or interactions between people, they carry the power of healing and solace. As we approach the beginning of summer, in the gradually warming air, they awaken the softest part of the soul, with notes like light, faint yet far-reaching.

In April, we took the Sofa Sonata Vol.3 to the Flower Island Festival, expanding it to a wider outdoor space. After four o’clock in the afternoon, the intense sunlight softened, and the setting sun cast its warm glow over the grass, slopes, and lake. A circular stage with a piano attracted children, and in an instant, the performers in the center of the stage were surrounded by layers of audience.

This concert featured Wang Weizhi, a national first-class performer, the only violinist in China to hold dual doctoral degrees in violin performance, and a violinist based in Germany. He collaborated with Li Chuang, a young pianist based in the United States and the music director, as well as the children from the Snyder Youth Magic String Orchestra. Together, they presented a performance full of childlike charm and artistic appeal in the natural setting of the transition from spring to summer.

In line with the theme of this year’s Blooming Island, “Conspiracy with Happiness”, this concert at A4 Residency Art Center will present a simple and sincere musical expression. To cite as an example in the repertoire, Mozart’s “Turkish March” has a simple and rhythmic theme, with eight notes in a uniform rhythm, and sixteenth notes to enhance the liveliness, and the whole piece shows a kind of virginal simplicity.

Music has become an important bond that connects parent-child emotions and enlightens children’s minds. It was also a vivid outdoor music enlightenment, allowing participants to appreciate the beauty of nature while understanding the essence of music. We believe that artistic education and sharing should happen in daily life; children should enjoy the pleasure brought by art, rather than feeling obligated to learn a skill after listening to a performance.

On an early summer evening, a gentle breeze softly caresses the lemon-scented air lingering in the living room. People lounging lazily on the sofa, quietly listening, their gaze following the path of the music.

This night was poetic and tender. Mr. Yu Song brought the poetry drama “Lost Life” and the long poem “About Love and Everything It Represents” to read with the audience, and the effect of everyone’s participation is unknown, but under the music of Mr. Li Chuang, the whole rhythm does not seem exciting and abrupt, but soft and gentle, which makes people comfortable.

This is a communion of souls, a quiet exchange, rather than a clamorous expression. Bathed in the ample sunlight of the day, in the moments nurtured by the residual glow of the setting sun, the music gently brushes across the faces of each listener in the tranquil atmosphere, bringing with it coolness and serenity.

The sofa becomes an intimate concert hall, each seat holding its own story, each piece of music carrying a different significance. In this fleeting summer night, let us close our eyes together, sway with the rhythm of the notes, and wander amidst the dreamy score.

The artists and the audience sat down to talk about the fragments of the poem, deciding and choosing the mood of the music, from classical to city-pop, and the evening was fun and warm.

At half past seven, when spring meets summer, the nights grow longer. Behind every illuminated window, countless tales unfold. Some engross themselves in literature, others in drama, while a few simply drift into idle reverie. The atmosphere becomes intricate, a melange of savoury meals and vehicular exhaust, intermingling, wafting through every nook and cranny of the city’s streets and alleys.

Music serves as the final piece to supplement the urban tapestry, weaving together these tranquil vignettes, and anchoring memories effortlessly. It evokes recollections of aimless conversations or rekindles connections with long-lost friends.

Inaugurating our living room concert series, we aspire to indulge in some romance amidst this perfectly temperate weather. Amidst the hustle, we nestle into the sofa, idly engaging within the confines of Room 1101 — a space for rendezvous, leisurely musings, and conversations enveloped by an array of voices and instruments, each crafting its own emotional narrative.

The piano serenades from the loft, perhaps not confined to a rainy day in New York but also echoing from an evening on the 11th floor in Chengdu.

On June 1st, coinciding with Children’s Day, “A Good Mouse,” a play written by 2024 resident artist Yu Song, premiered at the A4 Little Theater. The story follows a little mouse named Chun Zai who, disregarding warnings about the dangers of humans and cats, leaves home and embarks on a hilarious and adventurous journey in the city. The entire story is filled with kindness and challenges, offering humor without pandering to young audiences in a childish way, thus allowing adult audiences to also think and resonate with it. The combination of three-dimensional puppets and two-dimensional shadow silhouettes on stage creates a visually rich, interesting, and layered presentation. It is hoped that parents and children who watch the performance will empathize with the story and grow together!