2011 Wolfs & Jung

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‘1 Square Meter - Low Table’ ( Beijing / 40°00’34, 82”N，116°30’51, 35”E ) embarks viewers on a travel of its own. The journeying between reality and imaginary scape is the core function of the object, in the same way traditional landscape paintings did in the Tang age, exploiting and re-contextualizing the inherent qualities of the old product. Particularly, the unconventionality of the material encourages viewers to wonder what eyes see, while the object takes them in their minds.

The object contains 1 m2 of 8cm deep land collected from Beijing city, where perennial cycles of change invest an ever growing and socially compounded living environment. Gazing directly into the land sourced out of an existing location, viewers are drawn to reflect on its unique story while recalling the cultural meaning of ownership in the contemporary Chinese context. This particular dimension- 1 square meter- has been chosen to refrain the implications of social and economic factors inherent in all value systems.

Chinese property laws allow individuals to be only land tenants while the state retains the ownership; consequently, owning this square meter table transfers full ownership to its user while drawing interesting comparisons with the western emphasis on individuality, reminding us of the different meanings it ‘contains’ as a product of historical and social construction.

Furthermore the pricing of this ‘square meter’ draws reference to the growing desire for land gain in today China where rapid reforms and an extravagant building frenzy are often making access to propriety a complex and much sought after matter. The conceptual weight of this object, literally frozen at its heart, is refined and made accessible by a minimal and efficient design of pure transparency. A repository for visual and ephemeral stories each endowed with its own uniqueness.

‘1 Square Meter – Low Table’ will occupy a square meter in Milan during Salone del Mobile 2011, inviting viewers to visually experience the land it contains, to recall its past, and to reflect its present and future. While slowly sipping a coffee or reading a book distant memories reawaken. Of all those places we have once met and may never find again.

“一平方米——茶几”（北京／北纬40°00’34, 82”，东经116°30’51, 35”）让参观者踏上旅途。游走在现实与幻想之间是这件作品的主要目的，就像观看一幅唐朝的山水画，它利用并重新阐释了旧物品的内在价值。不寻常材料的使用让参观者在观察的同时探究他们究竟看到了什么。

作品收集了8cm高的来自北京的一平方米的土地，在那里，环境承受着社会的发展与多元化所带来的无尽变化。注视着这块从现场带来的土地，参观者会不由得去思索在当代中国所有制之下的关于她的独特故事。这一面积单位——一平方米——用在这里，为避免在所有价值体系中可能出现的社会或经济方面的暗示。

中国公有制的土地制度使个人只有土地的使用权；然而，在另一种意义上，拥有这张方桌也就是拥有了这片土地。当我们兴致勃勃的将之对比于西方国家强调个人的观念时，这一点提醒了我们它“所包含”的不同意义是历史与社会结构的产物。

“一平方米——茶几”将在2011年米兰家具展期间占据米兰一平方米的空间，邀请参观者直观的感受它所包含的那片土地，回忆她的过去，并思考她的现在与将来。当观者慢慢的品着茶，遥远的记忆便会苏醒——那些我们曾经邂逅的却再也无法找到的土地。

/   W 1040mm x L 1040mm x H  350mm

/   Acrylic box (plexiglass), Sapele wood base, soil, concrete, epoxy resin.

//  宽 1040mm × 长 1040mm × 高 350mm

//  亚克力盒子（有机玻璃），沙比利底座，土壤，混凝土，环氧树脂