Further Images / Return to 2014
Description: The Action Researcher/Performer came across an abandoned shopping centre in the middle of the city of Xiamen. Finding this relatively new centre no longer in use seemed rather eery and surprising. Escalators were ground to a permanent halt, shutters drawn down on shop fronts, signage peeling off walls, fading children's play equipment left as detritus in a corner and no people to be seen anywhere inside. Following the legend that a medicine man was able to detect the health of a wealthy Xiamen woman by using silk attached from his finger tips to her wrist, the Action Researcher/Performer decided to test (in a similar manner) the pulse of the shopping centre. By attaching a red ribbon around various architectural features, she attempted to monitor (feel any movements or tension that the ribbon might detect) the condition of the shopping centre. Can the health of an urban environment be assessed in order to examine its state of well-being?