Dijia Chen

Dissenters unfettered: The Making of Contemporary Chinese Architecture in the Sino-German Exhibitionary Contact Zone

My dissertation critically interrogates the widely-acknowledged concept of “contemporary Chinese architecture (當代中國建築)”, not as a faithful reflection of the architectural production in China, but rather as a discursive construct privileging a small group of independent architects primarily established through overseas exhibitions in the early twenty-first century. Tracing its origins in a set of Germany-based architectural exhibitions displaying and defining contemporary Chinese architecture, this dissertation investigates the institutional intentions and curatorial narratives through which Chinese architects were selected, marshaled, and presented. Through this research, I unpack the Sino-German cultural encounters and alterations in the transnational exhibitionary contact zones that implemented the mutual construct of contemporary Chinese architecture, which further informs us of the status of the design industry in China during the early 2000s that continues to shape the cultural landscape and urban realities in China today.

Dijia Chen is currently working as a Lecturer in Architectural History & Theory at the University of Melbourne. Her research critically examines the architectural production of the developing world as a form of mediated knowledge under asymmetrical power dynamics, bringing together the study of contemporary Chinese architecture, transcultural communication studies, and curatorial studies. She has accepted over ten fellowships and grants from organizations including the American Society of Learned Studies (ACLS), Society of Architectural Historians (SAH), Visual Studies Association (VRA), etc. She has co-authored a book and her papers are published in Architectural Theory Review, Log, Histories of Postwar Architecture, GTA Papers, Architecture & Culture,etc.