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Open Call | Songs of the Feetless Fish

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Open Call | Songs of the Feetless Fish 崇真艺客

Shanghai is the outcome of the migration of rivers.

If there exists an anthology of waterways in the Shanghai area, most of its chapters will end in the turmoil of modernization. Lots of them became artificial land, roads or urban districts. A lucky few of them retained their form, carrying cargo ships and tourist cruises. Now, they are a pragmatic part of this city life. Nothing less, nothing more.

However, water used to be the soul of this city. A dense network of water systems once surrounded its inhabitants' life. People entrusted their lives to water. Different generations arrived and left here on water. The marks left by these migrational movements are significant enough that even in Shanghai today, hidden narratives of mobility, emotion, and identity are still surging underneath.

Map of Shanghai Waterways 1870

Shanghai-based group _ao_ao_ing ensemble is to launch "Songs of The Feetless Fish" this summer, a mixed-media art project that will be generated through actions. It will combine different forms of walks, book-making and performance: the walks connects to the past, performance gazes at the present, and the "book" leads to the future.

They will openly invite the public and friends to four "Walking Workshops"in the summer nights of July and August. Each walk will be a collective action, centered around different themes, to rediscover our spiritual connection with the city's water system. Together with _ao_ao_ing ensemble, the workshop participants will use all sorts of creative methods to record the dynamics of flowing, interpreting the experiences of "leaving", "coming" and "staying".These records of emotional and spiritual connection with the water system will also accumulate as the walks take place, eventually converging into a physical book.

While this city is still healing from its trauma, we can still follow the ghost of the disappeared water, and in the creative space between fiction and reality, we can see the city again, looking for possibilities between mobility and uncertainty.

Melanie Hava / WHALESHARK DIVES

You are very welcomed to be a fish in the city with us, to dive into the different layers of Shanghai's water system on a summer night.

Songs of the Feetless Fish

About

the Walking Workshops

The First Walk…

Midnight

Whale-Chasing

Shanghai real-time cargo ship data

from 2023-07-12 MarineTraffic

Suzhou River and Huangpu River are the two lonely survivors of the once dense water network in Shanghai. If you've ever been to the riverside late at night, you've must heard the low whimpering of slow, stately moving cargo ships. These behemoths are like ancient whales, summoning mythical spirits.

In the first walking workshop, we will set foot on the banks of the Huangpu River, and together we will chase the "whales" (those cargo ships) of the modern city. In this walk, we will disappear into the B-side of the city and "race" with the shipping and logistics network of the modern city. In the process, we will weave an urban legend about this night together.

Time: Friday, July 21st, 21:00-24:00pm

Duration: about 3 hours

Open to Anyone in Shanghai

▲ Registration for this walk

…The Second Walk

All WC's

Lead to the Sea

Internet Meme

Not so long ago, most people still lived by the water. Water was at the front of their door. They played, washed and threw their sewage into the river....... The river was once closely connected to the everyday life. Now that the river god had been trapped under the asphalt, is it still possible to seek for spiritual connection with our water system?

Team up! Take a roll of toilet paper and hop around different public toilets. We will use the toilets as mysterious openings to the East China Sea. Just like the dead fish you flushed down the toilet when you were a kid, let us flush our emotional excrement down the drain, and let them flow into the sea without return.

Time: July 28th Friday Evening

Duration: about 3 hours

Open to people who have been hurt by Shanghai, and/or people who thought about leaving Shanghai.

▲ Registration for this walk

The Third Walk…

Spells to Awaken

the Dead Rivers

Generated with Midjourney and Stable Diffusion

As skyscrapers grew taller and taller, the rivers dried up and became roads. "Zhaojiabang (Zhaojia River) Road", "Dapuqiao (Dapu Bridge)", "Wanhangdu (Port Wandu) Road", nowadays the traces of water are only left in the road names. At the same time, during these dozens or hundreds of years, the fast-changing Shanghai has also welcomed and sent away generations of migrants, witnessing countless times and personal choices. What did they leave for? And what made them stay?

We'll follow the ghosts of disappearing water to find traces of rivers past. Evoking memories of individual and family migrations connecting generations, fishing for stories about time and migration.

Time: August 4th Friday Evening

Duration: approximately 3 hours

Open to former residents of the Bund area, old and new Shanghai immigrants, people who experienced house demolition.

▲ Registration for this walk

…The Fourth Walk

River Meridian

Foot Massage

Image from taobao.com

Shanghai's once-vast waterways were intricately interconnected, sensing each other like the nervous system in our bodies. Just like when one steps into river, the water touches the skin of our feet - wet and cold - and begins to trigger certain senses and emotions in our heart.

This is a non-walking "walk". In this workshop, we will "walk" on each person's feet, bringing the focus back to the sensory experience, combining the mapping of Shanghai's water system with the meridians and acupoints on the feet, and overlapping the two maps together. Using the sense of touch to stimulate reflex zones, we'll be searching for pain and memory points on the limbs, triggering an embodied sensation with the local water system.

Time: August 11th Friday Evening

Duration: approximately 3 hours

Open to all

▲ Registration for this walk

How to Registrate

the Walking

Choose the workshop you are interested in above and long press the corresponding QR code to fill in the registration questionnaire. (You can register for multiple workshops if you want to.) Due to limited space for each workshop, the artist group will have to select a number of people for each workshop.

If your registration is successful, you will receive a confirmation message via WeChat or SMS three days before the workshop at the latest, as well as specific information about the workshop. Please make sure to check your inbox and reply to confirm.

*These walking workshops are free of charge.

Songs of the Feetless Fish

Like migratory fish, in the endless choices between staying and leaving, in the brief stops for farewells, we will become a new river, a new direction, a song of action pointing to the future.

Songs of the Feetless Fish

The project “Songs of The Feetless Fish” of _ao_ao_ing ensemble is commissioned by Rockbund Art Museum and the Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General Shanghai. This project is part of the long-term program “Khek Dhang Ke” launched by Rockbund Art Museum, and part of the regional project “Urban Walks” initiated by Goethe-Institutes in East Asia.

Khek Dhang Ke

Launched by RAM, “Khek Dhang Ke” is a long-term platform with a focus on the vicissitudes of the communities and locals in the Bund area. In collaboration with educators, artists, scholars, architects and curators of various backgrounds, we have set up a series of research to delve into the Bund area through regular info exchanges, resource sharing and co-organized public programmes. Derived from local Shanghainese dialect, “Khet Dhang Ke” means the “living room”. Through the establishment of such a platform for cultural exchanges, we hope to foster intimate connections among residents and local groups of communities in the Bund area to enhance and enrich mutual understanding and communication.

As a starting point in the development of modern Shanghai, the Bund has remained an important witness to the vicissitudes of this city. It has always been recognized as a landmark and popular tourist destination of Shanghai. However, we seek to locate what lies behind this dichotomous locality of traditional European buildings and the transformation effected by commercial development and massive population shift caused by the changes of time. Today with the rapid pace of internet technology, people are becoming increasingly distanced from the environment they live in as well as the people around them. Anthropologist Xiang Biao proposed the notion of the “vanishing vicinity”, pointing out the widening gap between people and their surrounding environment. While life becomes increasingly constructed by data and network, we are gradually detached from what was and is actually happening around us. As a non-profit academic institution located on the Bund, we are committed to archive, research and preserve the history and culture of the region. Through the research and programmes of “Khek Dhang Ke”, we want to establish records of the local people and stories in the area that are fading away with the process of urban development. We plan to build an archive pertinent to this area by paying close attention to the people living and working in our vicinity.

Urban Walks Project

"Spaziergänge in der Stadt / Urban Walks" presents seven artistic projects that use digital support to turn walking in (urban) space into an artistic-aesthetic experience. Present, future and past narratives of places and their people are taken up. Through a digital platform, the local art experiences can be experienced by audiences in other places.

"Urban Walks" is a regional project of the Goethe-Institutes in East Asia. Participating cities and artists are Ran Chen and July (Beijing), Carman Wong, CK. F, RAY LC (Hong Kong), GeoinArtLab (Seoul), _ao_ao_ing (Shanghai), The Double Theatre (Taipei), Studio GROSS + Kitasenjudesign (Tokyo) and Mend-Amar Baigalmaa (Ulaanbaatar).

_ao_ao_ing ensemble

（老妖精ensemble）

_ao_ao_ing (老妖精) is a performance ensemble that is continuously morphing and finding its shape. Based in Shanghai, it has six core members from different disciplines and backgrounds. The ensemble uses contemporary experimental theatre as their main medium, but their creation defies simple categorisation. Their live performances are often driven by strong action, with diverse forms such as theatre shows, participatory performances, city walks, workshops, online program, happenings and so on.

Their past works include: Annata, Not A Real Drag Show (2019-), Here They Wu-er (2018-2022), Zhen Wenhua's Bus Dream (2019), Murder of a Pomegranate (2019), Hi! Hi! Hi! (2020), R.I.P. Papa (2020), Future Festival: Dragon Boat Festival (2020-), WeaverGirl Project (2020-), Linzi's Ball (2022)...

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