🕖 7pm on Sep. 14th
👉🏻 Since this riverside park offers limited walking routes, I decided to simply follow the direction of the river’s flow. 🌬️
🐾 The park was lively in the evening, with many people strolling, so I decided to collect materials in the park each time I encountered an adorable little dog along the way.
During my walk, I realized that although there is a large green area, it isn't very rich in species. It’s a good place to rest, but due to the large number of visitors, a lot of trash was left behind instead of being disposed of properly. Perhaps pure Land Art is better suited to untouched natural greenery (though it’s probably hard to find that in Shanghai). Therefore, I decided to collect both natural materials and materials left in nature by humans, adapting to the local conditions.
As I collected various materials—barks, leaves, twigs, orange peels, plastic wrappers, and cigarette butts—I noticed the ground lights installed on the grass. It reminded me of a village I visited that had been transformed into a tourist spot. The villagers there told us they were happy about the modernization, but they missed the fireflies that used to fill the grass before the installation of the artificial ground lights—now, the fireflies had disappeared.
Inspired by this, I thought of building a fake firefly using the ground lights. But then, an unexpected encounter shifted my plan. A little boy, full of curiosity, came up to me and asked, “What are you doing?” I was caught off guard but quickly came up with a simple explanation: I told him I was going to take the trash and natural materials and create a fun, weird art piece. Excited, he immediately offered to help, asking, "Do you still need barks?" Before I could answer, he ran off to a nearby tree and brought back pieces of barks. Each time he ran by, he'd dramatically drop the barks and dash off for more. In no time, I had more bark than I could ever use—it looked like I was about to build a bonfire!
So, I thought, why not? Let’s make a bonfire. After all, there’s a Chinese saying, “Many hands make light work./ All hands on deck make the fire burn.（众人拾柴火焰高）” Maybe this accidental collaboration turned my little project into some form of participatory art!
A tried to be fun documentation video :)
A tried to be fun documentation video :)