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A recent conversation with the owner of a small restaurant near the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA) revealed a story of transition, community, and temporary art. The current owner, whom I’ll call Auntie, and her husband took over the shop two years ago. The space has a history of its own. It was once…

Planting Nan Ting: Or, The Floating Life We Nurtured TogetherOn August 23, 2025, an exhibition quietly opened in Room 724 of Building A at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA). Titled Planting Nan Ting: Or, The Floating Life We Nurtured Together, it was not merely a display of objects, but a tapestry of voices,…

In August 2025, during an unexpected conversation with Yang Qingrong, a resident of Nanting Village, I learned that she had received two paintings several years earlier from two artists who had graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA). Unsure of how to preserve or care for them, she asked for our assistance in…

On August 18, 2025, while having a meal at a noodle shop in Nanting Village, we noticed several artworks hanging on the walls—pieces created in 2008, 2015, and 2018, all by artists graduated from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (GAFA). As we chatted further with the owners, we made an even more meaningful discovery:…

Reflections on the second and third Intervention：Facilitating Dialogue through Iterative Co-Creation The second Intervention marked a pivotal turn in the research, moving beyond the limitations of the first intervention. By shifting from a one-to-one model to a small group setting (one sculptor with three villagers) and introducing paper clay—a more tactile and accessible medium—the dynamic…

In this intervention, I arranged a collaborative creation between Chen Jinwen and Yang Qingrong, two master’s students majoring in watercolor painting. With the theme of shared memories, they embarked on a free creation. The final work was named “A Sunset to Share”, depicting the sunset that can be seen both in Nan Ting Village and…

Report on GAFA Artists’ Perspectives on Nanting Village and Its Residents： The overarching finding is a pervasive sense of transactional coexistence marked by functional convenience and a significant social and cultural divide with the native villagers. For most artists, Nanting serves a purely practical purpose: an affordable, convenient, and well-located “nest” or “birdhouse” close to…

Tianxin Hu spent around five years frequenting Nanting but only lived there for one year post-graduation. Interactions were limited to commercial transactions with shop owners, with no deeper social engagement. She views Nanting primarily as a practical “habitat,” providing daily necessities and services. While acknowledging that living there might subconsciously influence her creative mood or…

Gaozhi Hong views Nanting through a pragmatic lens of transactional relationships. He sees interactions with local shopkeepers as primarily commercial, where familiarity is built on repeated consumption. He describes Nanting as a “satellite city” to GAFA’s “main city,” a zone where students fulfill desires or undertake activities not permitted on campus (smoking, drinking, parties). He…