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Let the rivers be rivers, Let the mountains be mountains

Written by Jonathan on December 27th, 2009

This is kind of old news, but better late than never, eh?  This is an environmentally aware animation that until recently was playing at the People’s Square subway station.  I used to see it on my daily commute in the massive corridor between Line 1 and Line 2, where it would be simultaneously be playing on a dozen screens for the tens of thousands of people that switch lines there.  Something about the austere black and white animation and its similarity to the Chinese shanshui (mountains and rivers) landscape painting style would always bring my eyes to it.  People’s Square is a capitalistic maze of color and flashing lights, a sad black and white depection of the environmental degredation happening in the world was always a welcome change for me.  It was also nice knowing that someone here in Shanghai was trying to get the message across that we are destroying the natural world.  Today I saw a write up on it over at the Neocha Edge blog, which, by the way, is a fabulous place to see and read about all types of contemporary art coming out of China.

 

Posted in Art, Internet, Shanghai, Video |
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4 Comments so far ↓

  1. Adam J. Schokora says:
    December 27, 2009 at 8:55 pm

    Hi Jonathon, I’m the Chief Editor of NeochaEDGE. Glad you like the site. We appreciate your kind words and hope you keep reading! BTW, nice blog you have here. All the best in 2010.

    /// AjS

  2. Theophilos says:
    December 28, 2009 at 12:39 am

    brilliant! You’re right the animation is what draws you in. Best part about it is that there’s no talking head voiceover. Says everything it needs to without speaking.

  3. JasonZhao says:
    December 30, 2009 at 9:36 pm

    Let the mountains be mountains,and rivers be rivers.要是古人来到现代，没山没水了，该怎样吟诗作对？估计都去跳楼了

  4. Jellyfish says:
    December 31, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    Hi Jonathan!

    I love your description of the screening! I am happy you appreciate the campaign as much as we do!

    Like Theophilos said, the message is visual and quite powerful because it uses an imagery charged with traditional value. This (rather than words) may be more effective in achieving that environmental mindset, because most Chinese can identify themselves with these cultural cues.

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