Independent Collectors

A Blueprint for Ruins – The White Rabbit Gallery

A Blueprint for Ruins highlights the urban references in 21st-century Chinese art and is the most successful exhibition of the collection so far.

YUAN SHUN 袁顺, Soft Landing, 2018, wood, sand, lights, fog machine, stones, aluminium, just using 4 panels 400 x 400 cm total_5 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
YUAN SHUN 袁顺, Soft Landing, 2018, wood, sand, lights, fog machine, stones, aluminium, just using 4 panels 400 x 400 cm total_5 - Photography Hamish McIntosh

Beneath the glossy surface of progress lurks a simmering undercurrent of violence. Cities tear themselves apart to make way for towering skyscrapers and gleaming high-rises. However, in this bright new world, one question arises: where have all the people gone? Streets devoid of life and vacant apartment blocks stand as haunting reminders of an abandoned dream. Like solemn tombs from a long-lost civilization, these forgotten monuments silently bear witness to the cost of rapid urbanization, where each new creation necessitates the destruction of another.

As China’s cities race to embrace modernity in a never-ending dance of renewal, buildings are designed to be demolished even before their completion. The casualties of development are left to drift through the ruins of their ruptured world. Displaced individuals and their stories echo through abandoned spaces, once home to ancestral sites and legacies of long family lineages. Midst the rubble, however, stand ‘nail houses’, occupying land of immense value. Weaving another layer into China’s complex landscape, they are a testament to both impermanence and resistance against rapacious developers and government-sanctioned mass clearances.

‘A Blueprint for Ruins’ reverberates with the shadows of the dispossessed within China’s urban metamorphosis. The artworks guide us toward the remnants of memories woven into the very fabric of each structure, even as the walls crumble. As the artist Hu Weiyi poignantly writes: “It’s as if every abandoned building, about to disappear, is attempting to sing its last note, and eventually they will come together to form a requiem for an era.”

The White Rabbit Gallery was established in 2009 to share Judith Neilson’s private collection of 21st-century Chinese art with the public. A Blueprint For Ruins is the 28th exhibition in the Gallery, which is a registered charitable institution funded solely by Judith Neilson.

OUYANG CHUN 欧阳春, Volcanic Ash, 2013, Bronze, installed approximately 20 x 400 x 500 cm - Photography Hamish McIntosh
OUYANG CHUN 欧阳春, Volcanic Ash, 2013, Bronze, installed approximately 20 x 400 x 500 cm - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHOU JIE 周洁, CBD, 2010, porcelain, rice, 80 x 400 x 400 cm - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHOU JIE 周洁, CBD, 2010, porcelain, rice, 80 x 400 x 400 cm - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHANG DALI 张大力, Square 9, 2014, resin, 180 x 170 x 90 cm_5 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHANG DALI 张大力, Square 9, 2014, resin, 180 x 170 x 90 cm_5 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHOU DONG 周栋, Exist, 2018-19, acrylic on canvas, 350 x 295 cm_2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHOU DONG 周栋, Exist, 2018-19, acrylic on canvas, 350 x 295 cm_2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
TU WEI-CHENG 涂維政, Bu Num Civilization Revealed, 2003-07, photographic prints, artificial stone, installation, 228.5 x 479 cm_3 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
TU WEI-CHENG 涂維政, Bu Num Civilization Revealed, 2003-07, photographic prints, artificial stone, installation, 228.5 x 479 cm_3 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
BAI YILOU 白宜洛, Illumination, 2011, antique household lamps, approx. 600cm diameter_4 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
BAI YILOU 白宜洛, Illumination, 2011, antique household lamps, approx. 600cm diameter_4 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_15 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_15 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_47 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_47 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
LIU WEI 刘韡, People 1, 2014, metal, glass, 220 x 210 x 209 cm & Purple Air 1, 2006, oil on canvas, 300 x 380 cm (diptych) - Photography Hamish McIntosh
LIU WEI 刘韡, People 1, 2014, metal, glass, 220 x 210 x 209 cm & Purple Air 1, 2006, oil on canvas, 300 x 380 cm (diptych) - Photography Hamish McIntosh
HU QINGYAN 胡庆雁, The World of Silence IV, Fruit and Vegetable Store 1 and Exhale Inhale, 2022, marble, dimensions variable_3 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
HU QINGYAN 胡庆雁, The World of Silence IV, Fruit and Vegetable Store 1 and Exhale Inhale, 2022, marble, dimensions variable_3 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
HE CHI 何迟, Goodle, 2019, Porcelain, 1000 pieces, each 3-8 cm diameter - Photography Hamish McIntosh
HE CHI 何迟, Goodle, 2019, Porcelain, 1000 pieces, each 3-8 cm diameter - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_8 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_8 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_4 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHEN WEI 陈维, Drunken Dance Hall, 2015, wood, steel, luminescent paint, broken glass, lights, acrylic, mirrors, site specific, dimensions variable_4 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
Level 2 - A Blueprint for Ruins - Photography Hamish McIntosh
Level 2 - A Blueprint for Ruins - Photography Hamish McIntosh
Level 2 - A Blueprint for Ruins 2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
Level 2 - A Blueprint for Ruins 2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
LI LANG 黎朗, A Long Day of a Certain Year, 2018, 5 channel video projection with sound, 60 minutes 47 seconds - Photography Hamish McIntosh
LI LANG 黎朗, A Long Day of a Certain Year, 2018, 5 channel video projection with sound, 60 minutes 47 seconds - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHOU JIE 周洁, CBD, 2010, porcelain, rice, 80 x 400 x 400 cm 2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
ZHOU JIE 周洁, CBD, 2010, porcelain, rice, 80 x 400 x 400 cm 2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
Ground Level - A Blueprint for Ruins - Photography Hamish McIntosh
Ground Level - A Blueprint for Ruins - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHOU YU-CHENG 周育正, Bibliotheque #2, 2022, acrylic on paper, mounted on canvas, 212 x 480 cm 2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh
CHOU YU-CHENG 周育正, Bibliotheque #2, 2022, acrylic on paper, mounted on canvas, 212 x 480 cm 2 - Photography Hamish McIntosh

A Blueprint for Ruins
20 December 2023 - 12 May 2024


Curated by David Williams