Carosello is a revolving diorama, inspired by Bernard Rudofsky’s Architecture Without Architects (1964) and reimagined through the lens of contemporary rural China. Housed in a cylindrical structure, the installation unfolds across three tiers: The Pilot presents the first ever aerial views of underground villages in northwest China; Miss Zhu recounts the (almost) true story of a woman rebuilding her recently flooded childhood home; and Rudofsky’s Ghost traces the circular journey throughout rural China, tracing and connecting diverse, locally-rooted ways of building. Carosello presents the vernacular as a mode of building shaped by—and oriented toward—adaptation, resilience, and reinvention.
Participants
JOHN LIN, CHRISTOPHER ROTH, LIDIA RĂȚOI, DAVIDE SPINA, KAIHO YU
HONG KONG, CHINA; BERLIN, GERMANY; VENICE, ITALY; ZURICH, SWITZERLAND;
John Lin, Taitung, Taiwan, 1975. Lives and works in Hong Kong, China.
Christopher Roth, Munich, Germany, 1967. Lives and works in Berlin, Germany, and Venice, Italy.
Lidia Rățoi, Bacău, Romania, 1992. Lives and works in Hong Kong, China.
Davide Spina, Rome, Italy, 1983. Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland, and Hong Kong, China.
Kaiho Yu, Zhuhai, China, 1992. Lives and works in Hong Kong, China.
Authorial Collaborators
Underground House of the Future: John Lin, Olivier Ottevaere, and Lidia Ratoi, The University of Hong Kong (Design); Project Mingde Foundation (Donor); Jenny Hsiao (Project Leader). As Found Houses: Sony Devabhaktuni (Author/Editor); Qing Yunge (Model Artist); Chang Liu and Taketo Nagaoka (Research)
Technical Collaborators
Viroel Harabor, Claudio Harabor
Team
Hua Xin, Luowei Mei, Jingwen Cao, students from the Building Society
Thanks
Zhu Lin
Supporters
HKU Department of Architecture, Special Projects Fund; The Building Society, The University of Hong Kong
