We are happy to invite you for the opening of exhibition by Andi Schmied JING JIN CITY.

Opening: 2.10. 6 PM
Exhibition: 2. 10. – 20.10. 2015

Andi Schmied’s JING JIN CITY comprises photographs and installations of Jing Jin, a luxurious city situated about an hour’s drive from Beijing, that remains largely unoccupied since construction began in 1998. The city is home to a development of 3,000 luxury villas, alongside a huge hotel, an 18-hole golf course, an artificial lake and horse-racing tracks. The houses are very slowly being sold meanwhile potential buyers are put off by the idea of starting a dream life in a permanent construction site. The villas exist in various stages of incompletion, ranging from concrete shells with unfinished interiors to rendered façades with landscaped gardens. It is not a ghost town, but has a life of its own. The city is kept in order by a small army of gardeners and guards who also make up most of the city’s permanent population. The activities of gardeners and guards maintain the illusion that the city is functioning as planned. This entirely fabricated landscape, forms part of an initiative by the local district government, which envisioned Jing Jin as a “new city” built to embody ideals of environmental sustainability as well as material comfort. The exhibition will be accompanied by a self-published artist book about the project, made in collaboration with London-based artist Lawrence Lek.

ANDI SCHMIED was born in 1986 in Budapest, she lives and works in Budapest. She studied at UCL’s Bartlett School of Architecture in London, and spatial concerns infuse her work, which incorporates video, photography, installation and sculpture. Her interest in psychogeography and urbanism is manifested in many of her projects.

Curator: Anna Juhász

This project is being supported by the city of Brno.