Big Bang Beijing. Urban Change in Beijing
Buchpräsentation mit den Autoren Andre Schmidt und Hiromasa Shirai
Big Bang Beijing is a book about the drastic urban change happening currently in Beijing. The book displays various aspects of the daily urban life and conditions such as construction, demolition, environment, leisure and the olympics in colorful images, arranged in 13 chapters, each of which starts with a brief essay as introduction into the subject and is written by the authors together with 8 contributors.
The images in the book have been taken by the authors over the last 3 years and illustrate the unique situation of Beijing at present. They capture in an informal and unpretencious way the speed, complexity and imbalance that the city and it’s people are confronted with in daily life, while the city around them is changing every moment almost everywhere.
One urban condition may not exist anymore but rather transforms into a completely different one. Inspired by the extra energy that is spinning the wheel even faster with every day closer to the opening ceremony of the Olympic games the authors saw the importance to record the dramatic changes happening to Beijing right now. The book is an urban snapshot that captures the moment of change.
Hiromasa Shirai and André Schmidt, both authors and editors of the book, are involved in the CCTV headquarters project (Beijing, China) for OMA, a Dutch architecture firm lead by Rem Koolhaas
Andre Schmidt, Hiromasa Shirai: Big Bang Beijing. Urban Change in Beijing, 304 S., Kajima Institute of Publishing Tokyio, ISBN: 978-4-30604-485-2, 33,00 EUR