Out of time
I remember being in the taxi taking me to my next destination: The Untitled Space residence (now called Acentricspace and moved to the neighboring village of Zhujiajiao) located near Shanghai in China. What a difference from Japan where I was that very morning!
We drove an hour to reach a village in the suburbs of Shanghai called Jin Ze. I was about to stay for a month in an international artist residency located there.
I had briefly read before travelling about the history of the old water city Jin Ze but what I didn't imagine was that the residence was located in an abandoned military-industrial complex.
The taxi reached an old rusty gate that opened onto a place that at first seemed rather deserted. I remember thinking, “What? This is it?” It was just a first glimpse.
An old man came to open the door for us. We drove about a hundred meters through a desolate environment filled with abandoned buildings until we reached two recently renovated warehouses in the middle of this ghost town.
I loved the place at first sight. It was so inspiring to see all these buildings that have so much to tell. After the place was emptied by the army in the 1960s, it was converted into a garment factory and abandoned again a few years later.
Today, the only neighbor is a Dutchman who trades in antiques from Europe (mainly France) and China. I spent quite some time in there, but I will tell you all about it in an upcoming post.
The same evening of my arrival, the artists and the staff of the residence all went to dinner at the restaurant. We reached the main road where the restaurant was located by walking along some of the village canals.
The ten-minute walk felt like I was going back in time. Everything smelled of history. The neighbors were out in the cool of the street and watched us pass, intrigued just as much as I was. After so many trips to China, this was the first time I had felt so much authenticity. I was happy to have a month to discover all this.
The way back was even more interesting. It was already dark and the play of lights disconnected me from reality. I was like in a dream. I felt like a character in a Chinese historical film.
Jin Ze is still quite untouched by tourism. In the narrow streets where I was walking, I came across elderly people sitting on their doorsteps, others cooking in the street or washing their clothes in the river, fishermen on board their traditional boats returning from fishing. I said hello to all these people in my approximate Chinese accent. Some were curious and started a conversation with me, but unfortunately, I didn't understand anything they were saying to me.
A few Chinese friends came to visit me during my stay. It was then that I realized that some neighbors thought I was American because once I had exhausted my meager Chinese vocabulary, I spoke to them in English.
The month passed by at a crazy speed, and it was with sadness that I left this place. But what comforted me in part was the idea that I was taking with me the photographs that I had taken here and that they would make eternal these moments of happiness lived.
