Sensual City Studio

CONFUCIUS AND LEARNING I came to a Confucius temple, and a school. I understood, then, the link between the roots of beliefs passed on from one generation to another, in the spatial sense: the inseparable link between Confucius and knowledge in China. [ + ]

CONFUCIUS AND LEARNING

I came to a Confucius temple, and a school. I understood, then, the link between the roots of beliefs passed on from one generation to another, in the spatial sense: the inseparable link between Confucius and knowledge in China.
When a friend of mine arrived, she had many items with her: incense sticks, paper, red silk thread, and a wooden panel.
The transformation of these items then started to take place.
On the paper, she told me to write all my needs and hopes concerning my studies. Then, by adding the red string to them, they would become “gaokao [university entrance exam] wishes”.
The wooden panels became “prayer cards”, a tradition that is believed to have originated in this very temple in Shanghai.
Together we then hung them in a tree, where other students’ prayers already hung, so that they would be received by Confucius  .
Before that, though, we paid our respects by kneeling in front of Confucius and lighting three incense sticks each, which we then placed inside a huge vase made for this purpose.
After finishing our respective rituals, we went to one of the largest book markets in Shanghai, where an amazing array of rare books, manuscripts, comics, propaganda posters and other items from various Chinese eras were waiting to be discovered.

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FEELING SPECIAL 3 We started walking through the lanes, past the many shops. And then, at the junction between the compound and the lilong, a man took out a microphone and started singing. [ + ]

FEELING SPECIAL 3

We started walking through the lanes, past the many shops. And then, at the junction between the compound and the lilong, a man took out a microphone and started singing. Some people nearby started singing along, too, while others continued to play mah-jong or folded their arms and just listened. We decided to go to the park. It was a hard decision initially, as so many unexpected things were happening in the street and it seemed that even looking away for just a second would mean missing something amazing. I took him by the hand, and we entered the park. He didn’t have to wait long to experience more of Shanghai.
There was a big group of Shanghainese people dancing in couples, and after a while my dad joined them. He was dancing with a woman to music he had never heard before. This became our ritual: we would sit down to eat and then go to the street corner or the park, and then sometimes someone would take my dad’s hand and offer him a folding chair, so that he could sit in the first row and hear that night’s singer more clearly. Othertimes, he would be distracted, and someone would ask him (us) to come back to their home, in one of the lilongs, so that they could explain to us the beauty of the wooden staircase, the spiritual and material value of it, and for how many generations it had served the family. We couldn’t speak Mandarin or Shanghainese, but that was never an issue.
He became like Shanghai: sleepless. And when he had to leave Shanghai, he left behind a whole city that had become a home.

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FEELING SPECIAL 1 Shanghai is different. Shanghai is different from what we are used to, and is always surprising. [ + ]

FEELING SPECIAL 1

Shanghai is different. Shanghai is different from what we are used to, and is always surprising. It’s a city where many have found their home – and for those who haven’t, it is, at the very least, a place that changes their way of how space is perceived and used.
My dad had finally arrived in Shanghai; it would be the first time he saw the city I had fallen in love with. For someone who had travelled for so long (24 hours), he seemed quite fresh; everything was new and an opportunity to take a picture and make a video. He knew he would remember most events; nevertheless, he wanted to keep a record of the moments, figures, colours, textures – everything – in a form that could be printed in order to make recollection easier, as proof that Shanghai exists, that it’s real.
My dad became a real actor, a player on the stage that is the city, where everyone is an actor, albeit with an undefined role. Lots of people would look at him, change places on the bus or the train in order to sit closer to him, and stare at him. In a cemetery, a man even asked him to take a picture with him in front of his grandfather’s grave. He does not look that much different from any other tourist, or any other Shanghainese person, for that matter. He is not blond, tall or blue-eyed. But he has a white mane of hair, eyes that glow with curiosity, and a big smile. It seemed that this was the passport that granted him access to all the doors he encountered. He would be better understood in the grocery store than I would, and without even opening his mouth.

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ANCESTORS 2 Investing in a coffin is what many work their whole lives for. Some acquire it very early on; owing to its size, it tends to become part of the furniture, in some cases being used as a shelf, a bed, a table, or an armoire. [ + ]

ANCESTORS 2

Investing in a coffin is what many work their whole lives for. Some acquire it very early on; owing to its size, it tends to become part of the furniture, in some cases being used as a shelf, a bed, a table, or an armoire. It is typically painted and decorated, always ready to serve.
There are still some cemeteries, as in ancient Chinese times, where there are “tomb guards” – guardians who are paid to accompany the ancestor to his or her eternal bodily home. These are real human beings, in flesh and blood, who will talk to the ancestor, regale him or her with stories of those left behind, and, of course, eat with the ancestor, for whom a fresh bowl of rice is always provided, but with just one chopstick placed on top, as the other chopstick is in the world of the afterlife, with the ancestor.
The importance of this coffin, this house, is of indisputable importance for Chinese ancestors, as it is their perpetual home, as well as for their relatives, so that they are able to uphold the values of filial piety, passed on from generation to generation.

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BALANCE Balance is not just a word for the Chinese. Neither is it merely the act of remaining vertical in a given place at a given time. [ + ]

BALANCE

Balance is not just a word for the Chinese. Neither is it merely the act of remaining vertical in a given place at a given time. Rather, it is about according equal importance to all emotions, and the positioning of the essential places that contribute to the accomplishment of one’s personal rituals.
It is about the dichotomy of all things, which isn’t   necessarily real but perceived. It’s   about how all  forces are interconnected, and how  they complement one another – and how this duality in fact corresponds to unity.

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SEARCH

Le Sensual City Studio est conçu comme un lieu de réflexion où se fabrique la pensée, long cheminement nécessaire au travail de conception et de réalisation des projets. Approcher l’espace dans sa complexité physique, fonctionnelle, sociologique, nécessite un décloisonnement des disciplines et un travail collectif : c’est ce que reflète la composition de l’équipe, étoffée par un riche faisceau de contributeurs. Cette démarche, à la croisée des savoirs et de la création, permet la rencontre des regards : une  démarche de co-construction ouverte qui enrichit la compréhension des enjeux et donne un sens à la conduite des projets menés au sein du Studio. Cette posture de recherche et d’approfondissement s’inscrit dans la tradition humaniste du studio, cabinet d’étude de la Renaissance où sciences et arts convergent et se nourrissent de leurs apports mutuels.

Cette interface est la matérialisation métaphorique de notre démarche : elle propose de partager une série de projets conçus dans des cadres variés et des logiques de recherche ponctuelles ou récurrentes. Que cela soit en déplaçant les cadres d’une commande ou en se créant des opportunités de réflexion, le projet reste le même : celui de la ville sensuelle.

Édition │ Publication du site
Le site www.search.sensual-city.com est édité par Sensual City Studio, 24 rue Dareau, 75014 Paris, France.
Directrice de la publication : Pauline Marchetti
T +33 (0)143 132 020
F +33 (0)143 132 021
communication@ferriermarchetti.studio
SIRET 52860142000029 – code APE 7410Z

Conception │ Réalisation du site
Design : © Olivier Lebrun
Code : © Ahmed Ghazi

Hébergement du site
Le site www.sensual-city.com est hébergé par Gandi, 63-65 boulevard Massena, 75013 Paris, France.
Pour contacter cet hébergeur, rendez-vous à l’adresse https://www.gandi.net/fr
L’accès au site ainsi que l’utilisation de son contenu s’effectuent dans le cadre des mentions d’utilisation décrites ci-après. Le fait d’accéder et de naviguer sur le site constitue de la part de l’internaute une acceptation sans réserve des précisions suivantes.
Sensual City Studio s’efforce d’assurer au mieux l’exactitude et la mise à jour des informations diffusées sur ce site, dont elle se réserve le droit de corriger, à tout moment et sans préavis, le contenu. Toutefois, le Studio ne peut garantir l’exactitude, la précision ou l’exhaustivité des informations mises à la disposition sur ce site.

Droit de propriété intellectuelle
L’ensemble du site et chacun des éléments qui le composent (tels que noms de domaine, textes, arborescences, images, photographies, illustrations, logos) sont la propriété exclusive de Sensual City Studio (ou des tiers qui sont référencés), qui est seule habilitée à exploiter les droits de propriété intellectuelle y afférents.

TXTIMGVID
AMBIANCE
[72][134][15]
CIEL
[41][97][35]
CLIMAT
[43][80][33]
COMMUNAUTÉ
[44][45][9]
CORPS
[54][86][27]
EAU
[35][51][31]
ÉCHANGE
[106][148][20]
ENVIRONNEMENT
[31][95][17]
ÉQUILIBRE
[74][123][22]
ÉVÈNEMENT
[47][68][20]
EXPÉRIENCE
[58][101][9]
IDENTITÉ
[48][59][3]
IMAGINAIRE
[37][85][7]
INTIMITÉ
[17][33][7]
LUMIÈRE
[43][97][12]
MATIÈRE
[26][66][11]
MÉMOIRE
[32][52][1]
MISE EN SCÈNE
[57][97][38]
MOUVEMENT
[59][64][36]
MULTITUDE
[41][72][17]
MYSTÈRE
[25][57][8]
NUIT
[11][19][4]
PARCOURS
[38][59][5]
PAUSE
[40][26][22]
POROSITÉ
[31][62][1]
RÉCIT
[51][76][2]
REFLET
[8][25][10]
RYTHME
[16][26][4]
SEUIL
[46][70][8]
SIGNE
[55][72][13]
SITUATION
[58][71][23]
SON
[34][26][15]
TERRITOIRE
[47][67][6]
TRAME
[15][41][0]
TRANSPARENCE
[13][46][0]
VERTICALITÉ
[24][27][12]
VIDE
[15][35][5]
VIVANT
[64][91][34]
VOYAGE
[21][30][4]
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