Ma Yansong revealed The City of Time, a performance space and the location of a 300-hour artist residency created for the Aranya Theater Festival in China. Following the metaphor of avian migration, the Migratory Birds 300 is an artist residency program that brings together 300 creators from diverse fields and backgrounds. From June 12 to June 25, Ma Yansong’s architectural intervention will host a wide array of artistic expressions, including shows, installations, sculptures, performance art, paintings, and videos, including 131 group works and 194 individual projects.
The City of Time is envisioned as an ephemeral space. Its architecture is centered around an axis perpendicular to the sea to create a contemplative space for the creators. By constructing an imaginative city by the seaside of Aranya, the installation is an invitation for artists to explore the concepts of time, human behavior, and their connection with nature.
Migratory Birds 300 stands out as one of the most captivating programs within the Aranya Theater Festival. Spanning across two venues in Aranya, China, and Regent's Canal in London, England, this widely discussed public art residency project provides its artists with uninterrupted time for the creation of new works while also fostering communal living and a working environment for 300 hours. This encourages collaborations across artistic fields and creates a space to experience art, nature and connections.
Taking flight and transcending reality, it is a place dedicated to time, human behavior, and nature, iInspiring contemplation on our relationships with ourselves and the world.
Ma Yansong, the principal partner of MAD Architects, has been involved in a variety of projects at different scales and programs. The office has recently revealed photographs of the nearly completed Aranya "Cloud Center," an artistic center Located in Qinhuangdao, 160 miles away from the east of Beijing, China. Two other projects led by Ma Yansong are also nearing completion: the China Philharmonic Concert Hall in Beijing, and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park.
