In May 2025, the OPEN-class public practice project launched its exploration of art and ecological relationships under the theme ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. With ‘Flora, Fauna, and Urban Memory’ as a core keyword for the year, we invited Icosahedron to centre the latest issue of Mian Mian Ju Dao magazine on urban wildlife. Simultaneously, we invited our friend Ming Tian to play Wingspan, launching an online livestream for a virtual birdwatching session.
Partners from A4 Art Museum and Icosahedron will host offline board game sessions in Chengdu and Shanghai, featuring games related to plants and animals. Tian Qi will share A ‘Walk in the Woods’, a pen-and-paper game played on the roadside that makes one never wish to return home; Susan and Rong Yi will discuss their research into urban ‘farmland and weeds’, uncovering the relationships between people and land within the crevices of the city; Xiao He will share several video games dedicated to serious planting (the sharing session will be livestreamed for approximately 45 minutes). Everyone is welcome to join us online or participate in person!
Issue 11: Mian Mian Ju Dao: Flora and Fauna in the City
Adam Yang shares his ‘Avian Cosmology’ developed after playing over 300 rounds of Wingspan (a treat for readers with a background in astrology or the occult).
Fei, a researcher of grazing animals, interviews her classmate Siddharth, an Indian PhD student specialising in avian ecology and biogeography.
Xiao He and Zishu recommend several serious planting video games, discussing the concept of ‘binary cultivation’.
Tian Qi provides a print-and-play version of the addictive game A Walk in the Woods.
Nao Ba interviews A-Jun about his dual cultivation experiences on a farm and a city rooftop.
Li Xia interviews her father regarding his vegetable gardening.
Da Shui recounts spending long, humid seasons with fig trees on a Guangzhou rooftop.
OPEN-class community curators Rong Yi, Zhuangzhuang, and Susan document a mobile exhibition staged upon a produce delivery truck.
Plus, discoveries and stories from A4 Art Museum’s ‘Flora, Fauna, and Urban Memory’ curatorial project.
