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SCROLL: 
FLOATING, DISSOLVING, RIPPLING


Permanent Collection at the Architectural Association
On view at the AA reception
36 Bedford Square, London, U.K.
Since 2019

 The scroll is conceived here as a conceptual tool that weaves together architecture, anthropology, and filmmaking. Drawing inspiration from Chinese landscape painting, it functions not as representation but as a method of world-building—juxtaposing fragments, multiple viewpoints, and lived experiences to create a form of “structured ambiguity.” 

The installation pairs the scroll drawing with a short film, both depicting a looped double journey. One is personal: the countless trips we undertook during multi-year fieldwork, moving from central Wuhan through its industrial outskirts, suburban districts, and rural townships, to Shigushan village—and then back again to the city centre. The other is collective: the cyclical journeys made by Shigushan villagers to earn a living as part of China’s rural migrant workforce, known as the floating population. Here, territory emerges as a machine, where political and economic forces continually push and pull the flows of labour and materials.
LINKS

PUBLICATION
     Structured Ambiguity: Scroll as Method, in AA Files 79 (special feature), 2023

RELATED PROJECT
    Ripple Ripple Rippling
   CREDITS
Scroll drawing: Jingru (Cyan) Cheng
Video: Chen Zhan 
Installation Photo: Chen Zhan, Anne Tetzlaff
Lightbox Fabrication: Install Archive
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The installation was made possible thanks to the AA Archive and the AA Public Programme. Fieldwork supported by the Architectural Association (AA) Wuhan Visiting School and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

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