It works (somehow)! - Urban Village Residency Programme
Times 101, Guangzhou Huangbian Village
刚刚好 - 城中村艺术驻地项目
时代101，广州白云区黄边村
Times 101, Guangzhou Huangbian Village
刚刚好 - 城中村艺术驻地项目
时代101，广州白云区黄边村
For more, please see our own text on the ideas behind the residency and exhibition:
Rental Flat 103 (left) sits just a step away from Times 101 (right)
这是一次发生在广州黄边城中村 Times 101 的第二次驻地与展览。本次项目从两个维度展开：一方面关注在地 DIY 的空间手法，观察居民如何以“刚刚好”的方式改造、维系与搭建生活环境；另一方面以“生活账本”为视角，记录个体在家庭、生计与时间之间的日常权衡。
展览最终设置在驻地空间对面的出租屋 103 中，使“看房”成为“看展”的方式。我们完整保留前任房客留下的生活痕迹，将出租屋视作一件现成品雕塑，它是租客在有限条件下不断加装、修补与延展的结果。观者在打量房屋结构与细节的过程中，展览的两条线索自然浮现。
这两条主线源自驻地计划 「刚刚好 / It Works Somehow!」：一条从物与结构出发，回应临时搭建与材料使用的逻辑；另一条从具体叙事出发，指向个人发展、家庭计划与城市节奏之间的张力。项目通过雕塑、书写与影像，尝试将这些日常实践转译为一种空间语言。
This was the second residency and exhibition that took place at Times 101 in Huangbian Urban Village, Guangzhou. The project unfolded along two parallel strands. On one hand, it focused on local DIY spatial practices, observing how residents adapt, maintain, and construct their living environments through “just-enough” interventions. On the other hand, it approached everyday life through the lens of the “life ledger,” tracing how individuals negotiate livelihood, family responsibilities, and time within shifting urban conditions.
The exhibition was ultimately staged in Rental Room 103, located directly opposite the residency space, allowing the act of “viewing a flat” to become the act of “viewing an exhibition.” The traces left behind by the previous tenant were carefully preserved, and the room was treated as a readymade sculpture—an accumulated result of incremental additions, repairs, and extensions made under constrained circumstances. As visitors moved through the space, attending to its structural details and improvised modifications, the two strands of the exhibition gradually revealed themselves.
These two trajectories emerged from the residency project It Works Somehow! One strand began with objects and structures, responding to the logics of provisional construction and material improvisation. The other began with situated narratives, pointing to the tensions between personal development, family planning, and the rhythms of the city. Through sculpture, writing, and moving image, the project sought to translate these everyday practices into a spatial language.
展览最终设置在驻地空间对面的出租屋 103 中，使“看房”成为“看展”的方式。我们完整保留前任房客留下的生活痕迹，将出租屋视作一件现成品雕塑，它是租客在有限条件下不断加装、修补与延展的结果。观者在打量房屋结构与细节的过程中，展览的两条线索自然浮现。
这两条主线源自驻地计划 「刚刚好 / It Works Somehow!」：一条从物与结构出发，回应临时搭建与材料使用的逻辑；另一条从具体叙事出发，指向个人发展、家庭计划与城市节奏之间的张力。项目通过雕塑、书写与影像，尝试将这些日常实践转译为一种空间语言。
This was the second residency and exhibition that took place at Times 101 in Huangbian Urban Village, Guangzhou. The project unfolded along two parallel strands. On one hand, it focused on local DIY spatial practices, observing how residents adapt, maintain, and construct their living environments through “just-enough” interventions. On the other hand, it approached everyday life through the lens of the “life ledger,” tracing how individuals negotiate livelihood, family responsibilities, and time within shifting urban conditions.
The exhibition was ultimately staged in Rental Room 103, located directly opposite the residency space, allowing the act of “viewing a flat” to become the act of “viewing an exhibition.” The traces left behind by the previous tenant were carefully preserved, and the room was treated as a readymade sculpture—an accumulated result of incremental additions, repairs, and extensions made under constrained circumstances. As visitors moved through the space, attending to its structural details and improvised modifications, the two strands of the exhibition gradually revealed themselves.
These two trajectories emerged from the residency project It Works Somehow! One strand began with objects and structures, responding to the logics of provisional construction and material improvisation. The other began with situated narratives, pointing to the tensions between personal development, family planning, and the rhythms of the city. Through sculpture, writing, and moving image, the project sought to translate these everyday practices into a spatial language.
<展览作品>
Works落脚的麻雀 Passing Sparrow, 2025
麻雀虽小，五脏俱全。灵感来自我们在村里走巷时看到的住家与小店：里屋不大，却摆满了生活与娱乐的必需品，处处是物尽其用的巧思。在一家餐饮店，小孩的玩具散落在地上，旁边就是食客的餐桌，人走得远远的还能听到里面ABCD学英文的录音。我们想把这样的空间趣味性放到这个双人床架里。一个在驻地期间常同我们互动的租客就曾看着这床跟我们说，双人床一直是他的梦。我们希望这梦像一只暂时落脚的麻雀，在歇息，在等待时机。
Small as a sparrow, yet complete. The work takes its cue from the houses and shops we saw while walking through the village lanes: narrow rooms packed with the necessities of life and play, each corner showing some economy of use. In one eatery, a child’s toys lay scattered across the floor beside the diners’ tables; from a distance, you could still hear the ABC of an English lesson playing within. We wanted to fold that sense of improvised space into a bedframe. One tenant, often in our company, once looked at this bed and said that a double-bed had always been his dream. We thought of that dream as a sparrow resting for a moment—pausing, biding its time.
顺藤摸瓜 From There Up To Here #1, 2025
这件作品关注村里的材料流转与再利用。架子来自做废品回收的蔡姐，绳子来自黄叔。灵感则源于村中常见的旧物挪用：无头拖把杆成了晾衣架，铁丝与鞋带用来绑扎，撮箕的柄支撑着植物攀爬。它们或许不牢固，却足够使用。物件被巧妙地拆分与改造，折射出一种在地的生存逻辑——如何让有限的东西刚好够用。
This piece looks at how things move, are reused, and put to work in the village. The frame came from Ms Cai, who trades in scrap; the rope from Mr Huang. Its form was shaped by the re-purposing we saw daily: a mop-stick without a head made into a rack, wires and shoelaces pressed into service, a dustpan handle turned into a prop for a climbing plant. Not firm, but useful enough. Objects split and shifted into new tasks, showing the plain logic of making do.
顺藤摸瓜 From There Up To Here #2, 2025
这件作品进一步探索物件结构的力与美。烧烤架来自蔡姐的回收，两个烧水壶是周叔的馈赠。他说，如今没人用它们，不如送给我们。我们被壶的工业几何之美吸引，于是张开烧烤架，让它不再是夹持，而是悬挂支撑，使水壶呈现出瀑布般的姿态。其手法与气质，也与楼下的“顺藤摸瓜 #1”呼应。
This work turns to the strength and beauty of structure itself. The grill came from Ms Cai’s recycling; the kettles were Uncle Zhou’s gift. “No one uses them now,” he said, “better you have them.” We liked their hard geometry. We opened the grill, so it no longer clamped but held the kettles in the air, like water falling. The method and the air of the work speak back to From There Up To Here #1 below.
五金水路 Metal Through, 2025
这件作品始于一次“跑偏”的采购。因价格差异，我们没在本村买到所需的五金，而是去了另一村。那里的店主周叔，做了三十余年五金，如今虽退休，却仍热衷配件与机械。听说我们想做一块五金展示板，他索性抽出新木板，边比划边教我们怎么装。只是到了六点他得下班，我们只好留下板子。翌日再去时，周叔已为我们做好一块，并说这样更显动感，水路从上至下流淌。它就这样原封不动地成为了展品。
This piece began with a “detour” in procurement. Because of price differences, we could not find the fittings we needed in the village and instead went to another. There we met Uncle Zhou, a shopkeeper who had worked in hardware for over thirty years. Though retired, he remained passionate about parts and machinery. When he heard that we wanted to assemble a hardware display board, he pulled out a new wooden panel and began demonstrating how to mount the pieces. But at six o’clock he had to close the shop, and we had to leave the panel behind. Returning the next day, we found that Uncle Zhou had already finished one for us, saying that this way it looked more dynamic, with the “water flow” running from top to bottom. It became part of the exhibition just as he had left it.
做了许多梦 Bubbling Dreams #1, 2025
一条鱼和螺丝垫片摆放在一起，像是在吐泡泡。旁边茶几上，留着租客潦草写下的“⼩哥”二字。我们不禁想，这字迹是不是出自一个小孩哥？写字的人，是否想快快长大？
A fish was placed together with a metal washer, as if blowing bubbles. On the nearby coffee table, the scrawled characters “小哥” (“buddy”) were left by a tenant. We wondered: were these marks written by a young boy, eager to grow up?
我们拍摄、收集和记录了一系列在黄边以及在广东其它村散步时偶遇的风景。在此次展览中，我们从中挑选出一部分与大家分享。
We filmed, gathered, and kept a record of the sights we came across while walking in Huangbian and in other villages of Guangdong. For this show, we have chosen a handful to share.
这一影像系列源自我们同一位不愿透露姓名的邻居的交谈。他自称汉堡。
🍔大学毕业后搬来村里，已有五年。刚来时他细致记账，打算攒一笔小金库去做一些同龄人大概都已做过但他还从未尝试过的事情。例如，旅游、看演唱会。但他却发现怎么也存不下钱，于是记账日渐潦草。
在同我们聊天时，🍔说他刚来村里的第一个月电费超预算太多，于是干脆关掉空调，一关便是五年。后来我们请他写下这段经历，他甚至配上了自己的插画。这便是“三部曲”的第一部。
第二部来自他的钥匙串——上面挂满了各式物件，每件都承载一段独特的回忆。他称之为“My Essentials”。
第三部则讲述他的日结工作和一些趣事：在车展做车美后勤工作，去麦当劳参加品鉴会，提前吃到将要上市的新品。比如，有一次是板烧鸡腿堡把原来切丝的生菜叶部分换成了切块的生菜秆，希望能给食客带来多汁、清脆的口感。另外，🍔最想做的兼职，是穿上人偶服装，但一直没有得到机会。他喜欢橙色，拥有许多橙色T恤，却只有一双黑皮鞋，耐磨又适合做工。他还买了一顶黑色的银河护卫队的电影周边帽，结果戴着干活，“干了一周就掉色了”。
这五年下来，他才深切体会到什么叫“揾食艰难”，什么又叫“小/少数怕长计”。
其实，🍔是设计师，却常羞于承认。他说：“我只是恰好毕业于广告设计的专业，只是恰好拥有做图的技能，只是又恰好对设计感兴趣。自认为不算是一个真正的设计师。I barely call myself a designer. I am not even something of a designer myself.”
尽管如此，我们还是邀请他亲手设计并制作了一系列限量周边（可售卖）。他的日结与这些周边，共同构成了三部曲的终章。
PS：在我们一起讨论如何给这三部曲命名时，有想过加上汉堡的名字。但🍔却说：“我的名字不重要（it could be anybody），重要的是作品本身。” 所以，我们最终将系列命名为“那谁的周边”，取自他用过的微信昵称“那谁”。而 “周边”一来指他喜爱的各类小玩意儿，二来指他生活的四周。至于为什么不愿意透露真实姓名，🍔说：“我觉得我是一个什么样的人，比我叫什么名字更值得认识。”
欢迎翻阅桌上🍔的手写账本与画册，还有他过去五年来收藏的房租收据（可带走的“刮刮乐”）
This series of videos began with talks we had with a neighbour who asked not to be named. He calls himself “Burger” 🍔.
After finishing university he moved to the village, and has been here five years. At first he kept careful accounts, hoping to put aside a small fund to do the things his peers had long since done but he had never tried—such as travel or going to a concert. In time he found he could never save enough, and the entries in his book grew thin and careless.
He told us that in his first month his electricity bill went far over budget. So he switched off the air-conditioner, and kept it off. It has been five years. Later we asked him to write this story down, and he added his own drawings. This became the first part of the trilogy.
The second part came from his key-ring. It was heavy with objects, each one holding a memory. He called it My Essentials.
The third part tells of his day jobs and odd stories: working behind the scenes at a car show, joining a tasting at McDonald’s, eating products before they went on sale. Once it was a grilled chicken burger where the shredded lettuce was swapped for chopped stalks, meant to give more crunch and juice. His favourite job, though never realised, was to wear a costume suit. He liked the colour orange, and owned many orange shirts, but only one pair of black shoes—tough and fit for work. He bought a black cap from Guardians of the Galaxy; after a week of labour, the colour had gone.
Five years on, he said he has learnt what “making a living is hard” really means. And what it means the small, when reckoned in the long run, turns large.
He was, by training, a designer, though ashamed to say it. “I only happened to study advertising design. I only happened to have the skills. I only happened to take an interest. I barely call myself a designer. I am not even something of a designer myself.”
Even so, we asked him to design and make a set of limited souvenirs (for sale). His day jobs, together with these pieces, form the last part of the trilogy.
On the table are his hand-written account book and sketchbook, and five years’ worth of rent receipts (which you may take away as a kind of “scratch-card”).
When we talked of naming the trilogy, we thought of using the name “Burger”. He hesitated. “My name is not important—it could be anybody. What matters is the work.” So we called the series Somebody’s Souvenirs. That “Somebody” is from an old nickname he once used online. “Souvenirs” spoke both of the trinkets he liked and the four walls around him. As for why he did not give his real name, he said: “What sort of person I am is more worth knowing than what I am called.”