Amber Project - Nanjichang
2024
Medium
single channel video, digital print
Size/Duration
60 ✕ 90 cm, 3840 ✕ 2160 (4k) resolution.
The Artist Statement
As Nanjichang is the artist’s hometown, returning to this place to create art signifies the awakening of childhood memories. As Roland Barthes once said, “That is why childhood is the royal road by which we know a country best. Ultimately, there is no Country but childhood’s.” The earliest residents of Nanjichang were actually those displaced from Machangding Riverbank and other areas, relocated here as part of a housing reconstruction effort. These homes were originally designed to minimally accommodate displaced families, but as more residents moved in and families grew, the houses expanded haphazardly to meet the space demands.
As a child, the artist used to run through the alleys of Nanjichang, which felt like navigating a labyrinth, or living inside an ant nest. The experience of growing up in Nanjichang shaped the artist’s perception of space and urban life, inspiring him to return years later to document its changing appearance.
In his work, the artist uses point cloud scanning to record the space, which, compared to photos and videos, he believes offers a more precise depiction of the area’s physical features. This project gave the artist the opportunity to revisit the history of the region, uncovering landscapes previously unseen. Lin Wangting’s works have long focused on the themes of cities and memory, and this project encapsulates a moment of Nanjichang’s time, distilled into a world composed of vertical coordinates and colors. It also echoes the central theme of “Amber” in the project’s title: may these records become a kind of DNA, preserved for future generations.