On December 25, 2023, PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to deliver a lecture on “Colloids, Capsules, and Electricity" in the Frontier of Architecture Course Series at Tongji University. This lecture delves into the shifting landscape of contemporary manufacturing, focusing on production economics, automation, enclosed environmental control, synthetic materials, simulacrum, electricity power, screen applications, and technological optimism. The lecture ranges from case-by-case comparisons of everyday products such as sneakers, cell phones, and automobiles to in-depth analysis of spaces such as space capsules, shopping malls, factories, and theme parks, combined with visual juxtapositions of mass media contents from social media, illustration, film, and television, to map out a technological context and cognitive framework that is undergoing a dramatic transformation at the moment. The speaker intends to divert the disciplinary attention of architecture toward the latent changes yet to be reflected in education and practice and suggests that our age calls for a different kind of idea for architecture. Based on observations and critical thinking from these areas, the speaker draws a potential vision toward a new architectural future akin to Disneylization.

In December 2023, PILLS chief architect Zigeng Wang and researchers Jingyi Liu and Canqi Mu were invited to share a lecture series titled “Eisenstein and Architectural Montage” at the Montage Research Project of the China International Design Museum. This lecture series was shared within the “Content and Illustration” course at the School of Innovative Design, Chinese Academy of Fine Arts. Several Russian Montage experts in the field of history and art were invited for exchange. The course of “Eisenstein and Architectural Montage” is divided into three chapters: the first part introduces the definition of montage based on Eisenstein's films. The second part explores Eisenstein's understanding of architectural design from his literature. The third part discusses the influence of artist Piranesi on Eisenstein's ideas and Eisenstein's inspiration for later architects such as Bernard Tschumi and Le Corbusier. The course covers architectural examples such as the Glass House, the Acropolis of Athens, the canopy base relief of St. Peter's Basilica, the Manhattan Transcript, and the theory of Architectural Promenade.

On November 5th, during the exhibition “Renzo Piano Architecture Studio - Living Buildings," the “From Building to Living: Concerto of Craftsmanship & Humanities" architectural forum series was held in the Art Museum BY ART MATTERS in Hangzhou. PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited as the host of the roundtable discussion on “Architecture Affects Life." Forum guests also include Renzo Piano, founder of Renzo Piano Architecture Studio; Francesco Bonami, director of the Art Museum BY ART MATTERS; as well as Chen Chen, Qian Hu, Heng Kang, Hao Lu, Wenyu Lu, Xiaodu Liu, and others. They shared their unique insights on architecture and cities, architecture and life via lectures, discussions, and other forms.

On November 5th, Zigeng Wang, the curator of the 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong and the host architect of PILLS, was invited to attend and deliver a speech in the “The Future Path of Sustainable Ecological Innovation" forum at the 2023 International Youth Sustainable Innovation Summit. This forum is held at the Carbon Neutrality Experimental Park of Shenzhen Dameisha Vanke Center, with the theme “Innovation Empowers the Future." It brings together 100 creators worldwide who have made outstanding contributions and had exceptional influence in sustainable innovation, providing innovative solutions to address environmental and sustainable development issues. Zigeng Wang shared in the lecture how the curation team of the 9th UABB broke through the initial government's “dual carbon" proposition and responded to the theme of “sustainable development" with a broader concept of “interest generation," reflecting on the relationship between humans and nature.

On October 12th, PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to attend the “Ma Yansong: Landscape in Motion" forum series, titled “The Publicity of Cities and Buildings," held at the Experimental Theater of Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning. The MAD Architecture Partners hosted the forum. The attending guests include Yansong Ma, founding partner of MAD Architecture; Rongyuan Zhu, former vice chief planner of China Academy of Urban Planning and Design; Xiaodu Liu, director of Shenzhen Pingshan Art Museum; Zigeng Wang, PILLS host architect; and Heng Liu, architect of the NODE Architecture & Urbanism. During the forum, guests engaged in roundtable discussions on the creation power of cities, communities, and buildings, expanding the topic of architecture to various aspects of urban public life.

On October 5, 2023, the “Space, Art, Curate - Public Art Forum" was held in Beijing's 751 Park. PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to give a lecture on “Installation, Space, and Biennale: Several Methods to be Involved in Urban Publicness". This forum aims to build a cross-disciplinary communication and cooperation platform for art and space managers, researchers, and practitioners to jointly explore how to create diverse spatial values through public art, activate spatial vitality, and promote the construction of urban and rural cultural ecosystems. In this speech by Zigeng Wang, he shared representative works from PILLS Studio, such as the “Cosmologic Symbiosis" performance installation at the 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) Opening Ceremony and the conceptual design of the 751 Park sound installation, in response to the issue of how to use spatial art to reflect narrative and artistic topics.

Invited by the “Education and Discussion" public education section of the 751 International Design Festival, Mi Yan, the editorial director and publisher of ELLE DECORATION, planned and hosted a special forum with the theme of “The Careness of Design." PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited as a guest speaker at the forum. Zigeng Wang believes that when facing the question of “how to create the careness of technology in the digital age," designers should think about “making art an incubator for enterprises, rather than a burden for enterprises." He mentioned Tencent's Dachan Bay public art project as an example to explain what “the careness of technology" can bring to Dachan Bay.

From September 2023 to September 2026, Professor Zigeng Wang was appointed as a specially invited course supervisor at the Institute of Beautiful China at the Central Academy of Fine Arts for three years.

On September 5, 2023, Zigeng Wang, founder and host architect of PILLS Studio, was invited to give a lecture on “Identity and Relevance: My Recent Work" at the 2023 Academic Salon of Chongqing University School of Architecture and Urban Planning. Guest speakers included General Manager and Chief Architect Dongzhu Chu of Chongqing Design Institute Co., Professor Yuzhen Yang and Haoyan Wei of Architecture at Chongqing University, and Hao Long as the lecture host. In his speech, Zigeng Wang started with “identity" and presented representative cases of PILLS's recent practices from multiple dimensions, such as film history consultants, artists, curators, and designers. Through the analysis of various works such as the movie “Hidden Man," “Two Mickies," “1994", the “Venice Shougang Centenary Achievement Exhibition," and the “9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong", he actively explored the possibility of producing narrative and speculative multimedia spaces from different perspectives in the fields of architecture, art, and installation.

On August 26, 2023, the National Art Fund's Art Talent Training Program, “Art Museum Virtual Curatorial Talent Training," invited Zigeng Wang to give lectures to the students. Zigeng Wang is the associate professor of the School of Architecture, Vice Director of the Department of Architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and host architect of PILLS Studio. The Central Academy of Fine Arts is mainly responsible for undertaking teaching arrangements. It cultivates high-level practical curators through theoretical lectures, investigation and research, workshops, and other training activities through multi-dimensional, cross-disciplinary, virtual, and realistic course content and training methods. Zigeng Wang explains PILLS's concepts in recent fields such as architecture and space, art installations, and exhibition design, exploring the cross-media practice of space and exhibition through his own experience and his PILLS studio.

Recently, a new book, “An Underground Guide to Sewers," was officially published in collaboration between PILLS and the Utopia. Zigeng Wang and PILLS Studio were invited to complete the translation work of the book. “An Underground Guide to Sewers" combines over 400 image materials related to sewers, including rare historical photos, exciting paintings, and precious archives such as construction drawings and hand-drawn maps from major museums. With plenty of visual materials, it presents the winding story of humanity's transition from the filthy to civilization over 6000 years.

On May 27th, the 2nd Forum on the “High-Quality Development of Public Buildings," hosted by the Shenzhen Municipal Architectural Services Administration and the Baoan District Architectural Services Administration, was held at the Shenzhen International Exhibition Center during the Shenzhen Creative Week. The event was divided into two forums: “Smart City" and “Beauty of Art," focusing on core topics such as “Public Art" and “Culture/Education/Healthcare" in public buildings. Architect Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of PILLS, was invited to deliver a speech on “Installation, Space, and Biennale: Several Methods to be Involved in Urban Publicness." Via three case studies, namely “1994", “Nine-Tiered Pagoda," and “Urban Cosmologies," he explored the integration of public art and public buildings. He also discussed how the power of public art can imbue cities with deeper cultural meanings and promote its application in urban design.

On the afternoon of May 10th, Zigeng Wang, the host architect of PILLS, was invited to attend the “Curating in China" forum and the annual meeting of the Curatorial Committee of the China Artists Association in 2023. He gave a speech on the theme “Urban Vitality: Curatorial Overview of the 9th Urbanism\Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong". The forum, held at the Wuhan Art Museum (Qintai Hall), with the academic theme of Curating and Cultural Empowerment, consisted of four sub-forums with the topics of “Biennale and Urban Development," “Curating and Rural Revitalization," the “Curatorial History Value of Wuhan City," and the “Curatorial Power Inside and Outside the City." In his lecture, Zigeng Wang focused on explaining the exhibition logic and formation process of the 9th UABB.

On May 7, 2023, Xkool Technology, which is deeply involved in building intelligence, held the “Enjoy AI with Xkool" new product launch event and the AI Building Future Summit in Wangjing, Beijing. The forum was hosted by Ms. Wanyu He, founder and CEO of Xkool Technology. PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to participate in the forum. He discussed his views on the development of artificial intelligence and the construction industry in the context of the AI 2.0 era with Weixin Huang, associate professor of architecture at Tsinghua University, and Quansheng Xu, head of Beijing Institute of Architectural Design.

On the evening of April 11th, PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to give a lecture at the School of Art and Design at Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology for the public lecture series on “Contemporary Architectural Design Theory." The course was hosted by Fei Che and planned by Fanyu Meng. It invited well-known scholars in the industry to participate. Zigeng Wang's lecture, titled “Exhibition, Topics, and Publicness," used his works to expound and analyze the publicness of contemporary architecture. He explored the possibilities of using art to enhance urban public spaces and the involvement of architectural design in urban construction.

On March 24th, the final review and achievement seminar of the “On Office" workshop of the 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong was held in a combination of online and offline formats. The workshop was initiated by Professor Minan Wang, the chief curator of this year's UABB. The PILLS host architect, Zigeng Wang, and young scholar, Jia Weng, served as academic planners. In the mid-term review in January 2023, the 18 team members presented the migration of office elements between the material and virtual worlds through text, images, VR, AR, interactive games, and other methods. In this final report, each team shared their final results. Mentors and guests such as Zigeng Wang, Minan Wang, Zhiyang Zhang, Guochuan Feng, Fanhao Meng, Chi Shen, Wanli Mo, Yujun Yin, and Ziyu Zhuang provided comments and engaged in lively discussions on the results.

From March 8th to 12th, the 2nd edition of Design Miami / Podium X Shanghai, A Made in House production, was held at Zhang Garden in Shanghai. Zigeng Wang, the host architect of PILLS and the chief curator of the 9th UABB, was invited to participate in the forum “Building a Sustainable Future". The forum invited interdisciplinary practitioners from different fields to engage in dialogue, focusing on experimental topics such as the integration between future living scenarios and ecosystems, the impact of new materials on old regulatory frameworks, and the intimate relationship between digital computing applications and daily life.

On March 4th, the host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to participate in the “Emerging Scholars Forum: Fluid Ecologies" and delivered a speech. The forum, hosted by scholars Jia Weng and Wanli Mo, focuses on the exchange of materials, energy, and information in architecture. While emphasizing the constantly flowing and changing media in architecture, the forum seeks to fundamentally rethink the relationship between construction and materiality through keynote speeches and round table discussions, and to explore a more free, diverse, and equal way of existence beyond Western culture.

Recently, the book “This Way Madness Lies - The Past and Present of Mental Hospitals” from the “Sick Rose” series was published and produced by Ideal Country, with PILLS participating in the review work of the book. The book traces the history of mental illness and its treatment through the story of the Bethlehem Royal Hospital in the UK. The author examines the evolution of psychiatric treatment institutions, represented by Bethlehem, from the 18th century to the 21st century in terms of architectural design, treatment methods, management systems, and relationships with the outside world. The book includes over 600 images, showcasing the astonishing imagination and creativity of the patients through precious documents and visual materials, as well as artworks created by patients from different periods. It subverts people's inherent understanding and powerfully demonstrates their existence as living individuals rather than stigmatized symbols.

On January 13th, the concluding exhibition of the first-year Beijing Art Biennale 2022, “Blueprint Beijing” opened, curated by architect Yansong Ma and co-organized by MAD Architects. On February 24th, Zigeng Wang was invited to attend the first forum event of the exhibition, along with curator Yansong Ma, host Lei Zhao, and forum guests Hu Li, Chen Liang, and Feng Zang. Under the theme of “Idealism,” they collectively responded to the curator's question about the “Future” of “Beijing” and conducted a more in-depth analysis of the exhibition itself through open discussions, marking the beginning of the manifesto of “Beijing Blueprint.”

On the afternoon of February 8th, the forum “The Radiant City | Building a Future City with Architecture and Arts" was held at the Shenzhen Guangming Urban Planning Exhibition Hall. The forum was organized by the Shenzhen Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau Guangming Administration, hosted by Shanghai Fengyuzhu Cultural Technology Co., Ltd., and co-organized by Shenzhen OCT Culture and Sports Industry Management Co., Ltd. Zigeng Wang, the host architect of PILLS, was invited to be a guest speaker and delivered a speech titled "Topic Writing: Exhibition, Discourse, and Publicness." In his speech, Zigeng Wang shared the creative process of commissioned projects such as the Disney China Tour Exhibition “Mickey Gene" and the solo exhibition “Pure Politics". He also discussed the curatorial ideas for the 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. He believes that public projects are often like “topic writing" - sometimes there are themes and material limitations, and sometimes the space has already been defined. This special state is a test for creators to gradually turn restrictions into their own things and convey their own thoughts, bridging the expression of artists and architects.

In early November 2022, the “On Office” workshop selected 18 members from a pool of 80 applicants from various professional backgrounds around the world. Their backgrounds include architecture, historic preservation, media studies, literary studies, media art, geographic information systems, computer science, and others, providing a fertile ground for interdisciplinary exchange in studying office elements. The mid-term symposium of the workshop was held online on January 14-15th. Workshop mentors Zigeng Wang, Minan Wang, Yang Li, Jiawei Jiang, Wanli Mo, Tao Han, Zheng Tan, Beichen Yang, and Zhiqi Zhang provided comments and discussions on the interim research results of the groups. Based on their own experiences and knowledge backgrounds, the groups provided unique research perspectives and presentation methods for each element. In the mid-term review, they used text, images, videos, VR, AR, and even interactive mini-games to showcase the migration of office elements between the material and virtual world under the influence of remote work. Their collaboration and communication organically transformed the original research framework into a more networked structure.

On December 18th, Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of the 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, also the host architect of PILLS, hosted and participated in the “Past Curators" forum at the main exhibition hall of UABB. This forum invited curators from the previous eight sessions, including Hanru Hou, Xiangning Li, Heng Liu, Xiaodu Liu, Qingyun Ma, Jianmin Meng, Yan Meng, Ning Ou, Yong Zhang, Aaron Betsky, Alfredo Brill-embourg, Carlo Ratti, Fabio Cavallucci, Hubert Klumpner, Jeffrey Johnson, Ole Bou, as well as the current session curators, Andong Lu, Zigeng Wang, Bokang Chen, along with Aric CHE. They comprehensively reviewed and summarized the growth process of UABB from exploration to maturity, retrospectively evaluated the development history of the exhibition, and analyzed the significance and value of the biennale as a large-scale public cultural event in terms of new concept sharing and urban development promotion.

On December 17th, Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of the 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong and the host architect of PILLS, participated and delivered a speech in the “Youth UABB" forum of the UABB opening week, titled “PRD 3.0: Balance is Diversity!" The forum was hosted by Heng Liu, the curator of the Youth UABB section, who introduced the cross-disciplinary, integrated, and innovative works of the participating artists. The chief curator of the 9th UABB, Andong Lu and Hubert Klumpner, the chairman of the academic committee, Yuxing Zhang, and architect Shen Zhuang, along with other guests, explored how to face the complex challenges of spatial development through interdisciplinary research and practice, together envisioned a future urban landscape that is more balanced, green, resilient, and with greater potential for sustainable development.

On December 17th, Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong and the host architect of PILLS, hosted the “Cosmologic Dialogue" forum in the opening week of the UABB. In the “Cosmologic City" section, nine groups of architects participated, including Chen Chen, Li Hua, Han Li, Tianying Li & Haotian Zhang, Yichun Liu, Wenyu Lu, Yansong Ma, Yan Meng, and Bin Zhang. They depicted Shenzhen from nine perspectives beyond human beings: space, plants, sound, air, energy, waste, soil, water, and household appliances. PILLS created a spatial riddle based on these nine microcosms, called the Preface Unit, as a prelude to revealing each group's work. The “Cosmologic Dialogue" forum invited the participating artists in this section to deliver speeches, solving the nine micro-urban universes beyond human perspective and discussing the future of cities in the context of climate change. In the discussion session, they shared the perspectives of architects regarding how to surpass the inherent boundaries of the current status and seek a new balance for the co-development of humans, living beings, and nature in cities.

On December 16th, Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of the 9th UABB Exhibition and the host architect of PILLS, was invited to host the “Do, Imagination Community" dialogue and "Do It" opening forum during the UABB Opening Week. The 9th UABB “Do It - Co-habitats" section showcased the designs of over 40 Chinese architects and artists through a 50-meter exhibition wall, forming an imaginative community. The forum invited Hans Ulrich Obrist, Dan Cao, and others to discuss the “Do It" project and its scalability and openness, as well as individuals' perception and imagination of urban space in the rapid changes of cities and environments.

On December 16th, Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of The 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, also the principal architect of PILLS, was invited to attend the opening forum of the “Repeated Sound" dialogue and the “Sound of the Cosmo" section of the UABB exhibition. The forum's guest speakers include Yang You, Xingyu Li, Anding Zhang, Zigeng Wang, and Zheng Lu. This forum explores the intersection and inherent unity between sound and architecture. It discusses the relationship between cities, sound, and art. At the same time, as a medium that co-constructs the human ecological system, the art of sound discusses how it evolves and changes in the modern construction of cities and public spaces. It also discusses how it influences the construction or memory of a city as a retrospective archive.

On November 29th, the 11th issue of the “We Were There" podcast will focus on the theme of “Art Museum: Understanding art is not important; what matters is how to treat beauty." Zigeng Wang has been invited to discuss the specific location of “Art Museum," starting from the “transformation of the art museum's space" to the “changes and trends of modern art museums," and finally extending to the "relationship between art museums, cities, beauty, and the future." It will explore questions such as “How are art museums created?" "What significance do art museums have for individuals?" and "How should we perceive the landscape and visualization of art museums and their exhibitions?”

On November 21st, PILLS chief architect Zigeng Wang was invited to serve as the guest speaker of the sixth lecture on “Architecture and Modernity" in the 2022 graduate program of Architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The speech revolves around the theme of “City as Biennale, Exhibition is Action" and takes the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture as the background to discuss the curation mode of architectural exhibitions, as well as the significance of exhibitions in promoting the discipline of architecture and urban renewal. Zigeng Wang emphasized in his lecture that contemporary architectural exhibitions and curations are not only an event-based practice and visual presentation but also gradually become an essential driving force for contemporary architectural criticism and cultural space. As an external form of architectural research and criticism, architectural exhibitions provide a genealogy and historical traces of the development of architecture, enabling us to reconstruct this field's political, mechanical, and disciplinary landscape.

On October 15th, the recruitment of the “On Office" workshop for the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (UABB) was launched. The workshop was initiated by Professor Minan Wang from the Chinese Department of the School of Humanities at Tsinghua University, with PILLS Studio chief architect Zigeng Wang and young scholar Jia Weng serving as academic planners. Tao Han, vice Dean of the School of Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Yang Li, Professor at the School of Art at Peking University; Wanli Mo, Assistant Professor at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, and Zhiqi Zhang, founder of the “Random Fluctuation" podcast, serve as co-mentors. Under the continuous development of information technology and the emergence of remote work as a new form of knowledge-based work, the “On Office" workshop aims to reinterpret the connection between remote work and the material world from the perspective of media archaeology. It discusses how the functions and forms of office elements shuttle between reality and virtuality and how their materiality constrains the process of digitalization in all aspects. Researchers will conduct research in groups such as pipelines, plants, documents, workstations, screens, electrical appliances, flat surfaces, feng shui, etc., during a 4-month workshop. The research content is presented in the form of books, and a public discussion activity is held during the closing ceremony of the 9th UABB.

On June 18, PILLS chief architect Zigeng Wang was invited to participate in the first “Cloud Talk" of the Shenzhen Design Week as a joint curator. The event is hosted by curator Xiao Liu. Guests Yonghe Zhang, Daowen Guan, Heng Liu, and Zigeng Wang engaged in a dialogue around the theme of “empowering the future with design" and “how design education promotes the cultivation of cross-border design talents." They shared new perspectives at the design forefront. During the event, Zigeng Wang expressed his views on architects' perspectives regarding cross-border design, the boundaries of architecture, and disciplinary development.

Recently, PILLS chief architect Zigeng Wang was invited by Professor Duanfang Lu from the School of Architectural Design and Urban Planning at the University of Sydney to hold an online lecture on “Speculative Architecture." In this lecture, Zigeng Wang delves into the mechanisms behind contemporary spatial production, analyzes the changes and contradictions faced by the architectural agenda in the current context, and explores the opportunities and possibilities for architectural intervention, focusing on his works since his student days.

Zigeng Wang was recently invited to participate in the lecture series on the forefront of architectural ideology at Nanjing University and deliver a speech titled “Building in the Built." The lecture revolves around “751 Sound Installation," “Black Mary," and “Fishing Village Fairy Tales" and discusses the speculative design and narrative methods of PILLS's past practices. It explores opportunities and possibilities for interdisciplinary practice and thinking in architecture, as well as the contradictions and relevance of contemporary architectural agendas. After the speech, further discussions were held with guest speakers Andong Lu, a professor in the Department of Architecture at Nanjing University, and Suning Zhou, the architect in charge of Misi Architecture Firm, and also Zigeng Wang.

Recently, Zigeng Wang was invited to give the 12th lecture on the autumn graduate course “Architectural Frontiers: Machines and the Environment" at Tongji University. The speech is titled “Disease, Pollution, and Civilization: A Brief Introduction of Subterranean Infrastructures," explaining that the essence of modern cities is the management of materials, energy, waste, and transportation. The speech discusses the inseparable connection between modern urban layout and the history of human defense against diseases. Thus, it is pointed out that human evolution is externalized and completed in a world composed of technology.

Recently, Zigeng Wang was invited to participate in the Science Popularization Event of the Chinese Architecture Society and the “Young Architects Exchange Forum" of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He gave a speech, “Continuing Experiments: The Choice and Practice of PILLS," sharing his recent practical works and reflections on cross-domain and cross-media architectural experiments. Yuxing Zhang, founder and lead architect of Qucheng Studio; Zhenhua Li, independent curator; Bin Zhang, founding partner of Zhizheng Architectural Studio and visiting professor of Tongji University's School of Architecture and Urban Planning; and Zheng Tan, associate professor and international course leader of Tongji University's School of Architecture and Urban Planning, participated in the discussion session.

Recently, PILLS held the third reading activity, “Learning From Theme Parks," and the closing report of the third-year course, “Design Research Methods: Devices, Theme Parks, and Consumer Space Research," at the School of Architecture, Central Academy of Fine Arts. Zigeng Wang and Yi Fu jointly direct this course that delves into several dimensions such as capital and consumption, experience and technology iteration, security adventure and addiction mechanisms, examining the insights brought by theme parks. The course starts with translating and researching texts, guiding students to discover and establish design problems, and forming a framework for independent research. Guests who participated in feedback and discussion included Han Li, the lead architect of DRAWING ARCHITECTURE STUDIO; Fei Wang, a professor at Syracuse University; Jia Weng, a doctoral candidate at Yale University; Yang You, the vice director of UCCA; and Tao Han, a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Zigeng Wang and Tao Han, as course hosts and academic conveners, jointly organized the graduate course “Architecture and Modernity" at the School of Architecture, Central Academy of Fine Arts in the autumn of 2021. This is the fifth consecutive year since 2017 when Zigeng Wang and Professor Tao Han have become joint academic conveners to arrange courses. A special discussion is conducted during the course, based on “Architecture and Modernity," proposed by third-generation architectural theorists such as Hilde Heynen. The course has three sections: an overview, special lectures, and research reports. It explores the development and thought maps of architecture and modernity in different historical and geographical contexts from multiple perspectives and focuses on analyzing key figures and cases in development.

On September 29th, PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to attend the opening forum of the Beijing Urban Architecture Biennale, titled “Metaverse Architecture: Unbuilt World." He delivered a speech and participated in a roundtable discussion. This forum invites participants to start conversations about unfinished projects and then explore new architectural attitudes and values in the context of emerging metaverse development. Chief Architect Weiping Shao of the Beijing Institute of Architectural Design delivered an opening speech. 2013 Pulitzer Prize winner Toyo Ito, Dean of the Cooper Union School of Architecture Nader Trani, Director of MIT's Sensible City Laboratory Carlo Ratti, and Founder of Wutopia Lab Ting Yu delivered speeches via video. The host of the opening forum is the M2M film director and Xiaoya. Guests include co-founder Hu Hu of M2M Metaverse, Ż-Studio founder Sizhi Qin, DA! Architects founders Anna Andronova and Lidong Sun, creator Heshan Huang of Taobao Creation Festival's digital real estate “Tulifu", co-founder Eden of 24 ScanLab Sensing Workshop, cross-disciplinary researcher and art creator Shengyu Meng.

Recently, PILLS lead architect Zigeng Wang was invited as a speaker for the third lecture of the 2021 GOA gmooc public course series. He delivered a lecture on “Speculative and Narrative - PILLS' Recent Preoccupations” at GOA Headquarters located in OōEli Hangzhou and held a roundtable discussion with the guests. The chief architect Xun Zhang of GOA, hosted the lecture, and event guests included outstanding scholars and architects such as Fei Wang, Xin Wang, Wanli Mo, Yuwei Wang, Qi Xu, and Qilin Zhang. The lecture revolved around the theme of “experimentation" and conducted a series of discussions and exchanges in architecture regarding interdisciplinary experiments, current industry status, practicality and standardization, teaching and practice.

On September 23th, Zigeng Wang, the chief architect of PILLS, was invited to give a lecture titled “Speculative and Narrative - PILLS' Recent Preoccupations” at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Professor Yuan Wang from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning hosted the lecture. During the lecture, Zigeng Wang shared the studio's achievements, which primarily focus on speculative design and narrative methods, including works such as the “A Beautiful Country" trilogy, “Black Maria," and “Manufacturing Human: Eve's Choice." Zigeng Wang and PILLS use different media as metaphors for globalized space, transferring the process of thinking into visual presentations to express criticism of technological beliefs and explore the possibilities of architecture in contemporary society.

Zigeng Wang and Professor Tao Han, as course hosts and academic conveners, co-organize the lecture series “Architecture and Modernity" at the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in the autumn of 2020. This is the fourth consecutive year since 2017 that Zigeng Wang and Professor Tao Han have become the co-moderator and coordinator of this course. “Architecture and Modernity" conducts special lectures and discussions, focusing on the core content and central theme proposed by the third generation of architectural theorists, such as Hilde Heynen. The course aims to build an open research platform based on star clusters, systematically and critically exploring the development and transformation of architecture and modernity in different historical and geographical contexts. In the fall of 2020, the guest speakers include Lei Liu, President of the Sino-French Architecture Society in China; Andong Lu, Professor Director of Nanjing University; Wanli Mo, Editor of Architecture China; Da Lin, Professor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Xiangjun Wang, Associate Professor of the University of Hong Kong; Hang Yu, Chief Architect of ATPROS Architecture Studio; Jing Han, Co-founder of ARCity Office; and Xiahong Hua, Professor of Tongji University.

Zigeng Wang, the chief architect of PILLS Studio, has been appointed as a visiting professor at the School of Architecture, Syracuse University, for the 2020 autumn semester. He will be leading a three-month design course in Beijing. The course “The Boundary of Selves: Domestic Space in the Age of Digital Screens” will explore how screens and related technological media reshape the public and private domains and how modern logistics and electronic payments change the attributes of people and cities. It will also discuss potential opportunities and expressions of architecture in this era. Jia Weng, the young scholar and Ph.D. candidate at Yale University and , will serve as the teaching fellow. And the coordinator is Fei Wang. The guest speakers include Liam Young, the director of the “Fiction and Entertainment” graduate program at the Southern California Institute of Architecture; Aric Chen, the curator of the Miami Design Exhibition; Sunquan Huang, the graduate mentor of the School of Cross-Media Art, China Academy of Art; and Junyuan Feng, the lecturer at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts. Yanfei Shui, the chief architect of Shanghai based architecture studio NATURALBUILD, was appointed during the same period.

PILLS architect Zigeng Wang was recently invited to attend the Practice Forum regarding the 14th Urban Planning and Natural Resource Informatization. He delivered a speech on “Technical Criticism and Possible Future” in the sub-forum “Future Cities: Space Prototyping and Innovative Design,” sharing the possibility of placing architecture under the scope of technical criticism, engaging in cross-disciplinary practice, intervention, and participation for building the future. This sub-forum is jointly organized by the Urban Big Data Special Committee of the China Urban Science Research Association, Beijing Urban Laboratory BCL, and the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University. The sub-forum is hosted by Ying Long, a researcher and doctoral supervisor at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University. The speakers also included director Dongquan He from the Energy Innovation China Area, senior vice president Hongzhi Liu from AECOM Asia Pacific, also the director of Strategy and Development in Greater China, senior researcher Jinsong Liu at Tencent Research Institute, cofounder of dream deck Beijing smart technology Co., Ltd. Zheng Wang, and doctoral student Enjia Zhang at the School of Architecture at Qinghua University.

Zigeng Wang, the founder and chief architect of PILLS Studio, was invited to attend the academic event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the architecture program at the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, known as the “Yanshan Lecture”. He delivered a speech titled “Speculative and Narrative - PILLS’ Recent Preoccupations”. Professor Guanghui Ding from the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture hosted the discussion session after the speech. Zigeng Wang with the guests Qiuye Jin, Andong Lu further explored topics related to spatial politics, environmental control, technological philosophy, global infrastructure, and media culture.

The Journal of Architecture recently published a special issue on architectural research and practice during the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) epidemic. The COVID-19 epidemic has dramatically impacted the world economy and society. It is widely regarded as a historic node. Under the challenge of this major public health emergency, the Journal of Architecture invites relevant researchers and practitioners from the industry to discuss academic and practical issues highlighted in the epidemic that have been overlooked, urgently need reflection, or must be addressed in the future. PILLS lead architect Zigeng Wang was invited to participate in the “Responding to Design Challenges” theme discussion, and he published an article titled “Three Kinds of Architecture: Some Reflections on Network and Architecture under the Epidemic.” In the article, Zigeng Wang believes that the application of the Internet may lead to three types of future architectural differentiation: wonder architecture, infrastructure architecture, and residential architecture. The discipline of architecture should be liberated from dogma. Instead, it should integrate new resources and professional knowledge, placing itself in the scope of artificial environment and technical criticism. It should reexamine its relevance, reflecting on its direction and progress under the influence of the Internet and its potential contribution to humanity.

Recently, the 8th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (Shenzhen) held an academic seminar on “Interaction in the Ascending" around the exhibition theme. PILLS Studio architect Zigeng Wang was invited as a guest to attend. The seminar was hosted by Yuxing Zhang, a professor from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Shenzhen University, and Jianmin Meng, an academician of the CAE Member. It focused on the design practice and theoretical thinking of “interaction" and “dimension upgrading" in the process of urban evolution. The seminar also jointly discussed the future urban development in the context of the digital era. The attending guests also included Jianguo Wang, Shu Wang, Fujimoto Zhuangjie, and others. In the seminar, Zigeng Wang pointed out that architecture currently does not have the ability to respond to urban forms in the network era, and architects should seek methods and means to intervene in public discussions, utilizing professional skills and technology to participate in the construction of future cities.

PILLS lead architect Zigeng Wang was recently invited to attend the “2019 Perception Forum: Using Creative Collective as a Method" hosted by the China Academy of Art School of Intermedia Art. The forum focuses on the improvement and support between teaching and creation, focusing on a creative collective composed of teachers and students. The forum discusses the driving force of ideas and artistic production. Several guests participated in the second forum conversation to explore the possibility of cross-media art creation. These guests include Zigeng Wang, artist Xian Tao, and Bin Tan, a teacher at the Shanghai School of Design and the School of Innovative Design at the China Academy of Fine Arts, and researcher Jiarui Wu. The key speakers included media person Chaohui Zhu, photography artist Jieming Hu, young teacher Jingjian Li from the School of Music at Shanghai University, and researcher and doctoral supervisor Chengjian Sun from the Film and Television Art Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Arts. The discussion was chaired by Professor Shiqiang Gao, Director of the Experimental Art Department of the China Academy of Art School of Intermedia Art.

On November 20th, PILLS lead designer Zigeng Wang was invited to attend the academic seminar on “Urban Architecture Thinking of Underground Space” at Tongji University. The conference centered around the hot topic of urban construction and research in recent years, namely “underground space development.” Zigeng Wang presented his recent translations and reflections on underground spaces at the seminar. The seminar attendees included Professor Zhongwei Shen from the School of Architecture and Design at Southwest Jiaotong University, Professor Yu Zhuang from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Vice Director Qian Shang from the Architecture Department at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Vice President Jian Jia from the Institute of Architectural Design and Research at Tongji University, Senior Vice President Hongzhi Liu from AECOM Asia Pacific, and Engineer Liangcheng Zhu from Shanghai Municipal Design and Research Institute. The academic hosts were Zheng Tan, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, and his research assistant, Xiaohua Deng. 

Recently, Zigeng Wang was invited to visit the MS Fiction and Entertainment graduate program at the Southern California School of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and shared his recent creative achievements and insights at a seminar hosted by project leader Liam Young. Considering the course theme, Zigeng Wang and students from the Southern California School of Architecture jointly discussed the changes and contradictions related to the contemporary architectural discipline in the multimedia digital era and the possibility of cross-disciplinary practice.

Recently, invited by the Harvard School of Design and its Association of Chinese Students and Scholars, PILLS hosted a lecture titled “Curiosity and Method - Pills' Recent Preconditions” by architect Zigeng Wang at the GSD Gund Hall. The speech centers around the studio's recent works, discussing designs with critical thinking and ways of narratives. The work covers contemporary geography, spatial politics, environmental control, technological philosophy, globalization infrastructure, production and consumption relations, and media culture. The lecture delves into the changes and contradictions in the contemporary architectural agenda and the possibility of architecture intervening in today's society.

On November 10th, Zigeng Wang was invited to attend the New York campus event of the School of Architecture at Syracuse University. He held a special lecture on “Curiosity and Method - Pills' Recent Preconditions” to share his recent practice and research achievements. Zigeng Wang discusses designs with critical thinking and ways of narratives in contemporary geopolitical, spatial politics, environmental control, technological philosophy, global infrastructure, production and consumption, and media culture background around his works. He profoundly analyzes the changes and contradictions in architecture in contemporary society and explores the possibility of architectural intervention and cross-disciplinary practice.

On November 7th, PILLS, led by architect Zigeng Wang, was invited to be a distinguished lecturer in the Neuro Architecture Imaging lecture series at the School of Architecture, Syracuse University. He delivered a speech titled “Curiosity and Method - Pills' Recent Preoccupations." Zigeng Wang discussed his works, engaging in a discourse on speculative design and narrative methods in the context of contemporary geopolitics, spatial politics, environmental control, technological philosophy, global infrastructure, production and consumption, and media culture. Together with faculty and students, he delved into a comprehensive exploration of the contradictions and relevance of architectural agendas in contemporary society, as well as the possibilities of architectural interventions.

The “NEXT Youth Architects Symposium” recently opened at the Water Conservancy Hall of Tianjin University. This exhibition is jointly organized by the School of Architecture of Tianjin University and the magazine “Urban Environment Design" (UED). It is co-curated by Xiangning Li, Vice Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University, Qiuye Jin, Professor of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Beijing University of Architecture, and Xinnan Zhang, Director of the Department of Architecture of Tianjin University of Architecture. The exhibition is an important event during Tianjin University Academic Week, and PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to participate and deliver a speech. The architects jointly invited included Yanfei Shui, Han Li, Jiujiang Fan, and others, presenting the ideas and achievements of 15 young architectural firms that have gradually emerged in recent years. The exhibition showcases Zigeng Wang's design and curation of the Shougang Centennial Commemorative Exhibition “Steel Home Still." This project takes the transformation of industrial heritage in the northern area of Shougang Industrial Park as a clue, expressing the history, present, and future of Shougang Industrial Park through immersive space and individual narratives, exploring the path of China's modernization transformation represented by Shougang through micro abstraction.

The lecture series on “Architecture and Modernity” for graduate and doctoral students, offered by the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, was officially established in 2017. Tao Han and Zigeng Wang, from the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, jointly became the course hosts and academic conveners.  With a critical perspective on the mutual influence between “Architecture” and “Modernity,” the course explores the occurrence, expansion, and transformation under various historical and geographical conditions. The course aims to systematically study the complex relationships and key disciplinary paradigms between “architecture,” “global capitalist development,” and “China's modernization”. Based on contemporary problem awareness, the course host invites ten scholars from different fields yearly, attempting to construct an open research platform for critical discussions on the relationship between architecture and modernity. The invited speakers for the 2019 course include Professor Min An Wang from the School of Humanities at Tsinghua University, Associate Professors Rong Zhou, Feng Qing, and Lu Fan from the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, Professor Duanfang Lu from the School of Architectural Design and Urban Planning at the University of Sydney, Professor Fei Wang from the School of Architecture at Syracuse University in the United States, Professor Andong Lu from Nanjing University, Professor Yuzhen Yang from Chongqing University, and Yanfang Niu from the Youth Association of the Honorary Society of Humanities and Social Sciences at Southern University of Science and Technology.

Recently, the theme forum “Public Space Design - Mexico City and Beijing Cases,” chaired and convened by Zigeng Wang, was successfully held at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. Beijing and Mexico City are both historic and cultural cities. In rapid urbanization, the two cities face similar problems in urban renewal and public space improvement. This forum invited five young scholars from Mexico City and six from Beijing to jointly discuss the challenges in urban policy, community participation and interaction, design, and spatial construction. They are also invited to exchange views on representative viewpoints related to public spaces and the challenges faced by public spaces. Pei Zhu, Dean of the School of Architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Zhong Wang, Dean of the School of Urban Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, attended the forum and delivered opening speeches.

Recently, PILLS founder architect Zigeng Wang delivered a lecture on “Speculation and Narration” at Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, sharing his thinking process and creative achievements based on speculation and narrative from his student life to the life after the establishment of his studio. PILLS conducts extensive practice through exhibitions, publications, and construction projects, covering topics such as capital and spatial politics, environmental control and technological philosophy, globalization and infrastructure, contemporary media culture, and production-consumption relationships. The lecture talks about the changes and contradictions in the contemporary architectural agenda, as well as the possibility of architecture intervening in today's society.

In the spring semester of 2019, the third-year student experimental class of the School of Architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts invited renowned architect Jiakun Liu as the supervisor. Zigeng Wang was also invited to participate in the joint teaching. This course is Jiakun Liu's first architectural teaching experience at a university, with the course titled “Film Museum Design”. It is based on the second phase renovation project of the Chengdu Eying Factory for real problem training. The project aims to cultivate students' emotional understanding of the space, control of material properties, and rational thinking of architecture. In summary, the course explores new possibilities for architectural design teaching. This project requires students to transform their self-awareness of the site into a specific architectural plan for the film museum at Eying, which includes exhibition halls, interactive experience spaces for movies, movie salon spaces, and outdoor exhibition spaces. At the end of the course, architects, filmmakers, scholars, and other guests were invited to participate in the project, including Mingxian Wang, Li Zhang, Rong Zhou, Xiangning Li, Xinggang Li, Tingxiao Huo, Hu Li, Li Hua, Gong Dong, and other guests.

Recently, the Spring Elective Course “Cinematography: As a Narrative Medium” at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, hosted by Zigeng Wang, released its course plan. This course talks about movies, for example, the development history of film imaging technology over the past century, the temporal and spatial structure of narrative, film text, film photography, film art design, visual effects, film theory, and commentary. In summary, this course explores the form and significance of film as a narrative medium and tool. The course will be jointly taught by teachers from universities such as the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Beijing Film Academy, as well as relevant film practitioners, in the form of lectures. The course not only emphasizes the historical and theoretical development of film as a narrative technique and audio-visual language but also emphasizes the application of imaging technology in artistic expression and practice. Invited speakers include young writer Fangzhou Jiang, film director Rui Yang, film critic Qi Liu, photography director Xingmai Deng, vice director of “One Step Away” Dan Zhao, teacher of the School of Fine Arts at Beijing Film Academy Yu Zhou, teacher of the Photography Department at Beijing Film Academy Yang Gao, independent director and screenwriter Jiayuan Liu, and film concept designer Tao Song.

On April 28, 2019, PILLS architect Zigeng Wang was invited to attend the 2050 “Body City" lecture and deliver a speech on “Disney, Infrastructure, and Debody." Deli Zhao, a visiting professor from the School of Architecture and Art at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts and the Department of Architecture at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States, convened this event. The forum shared each individual's difficulties, challenges, breakthroughs, and contributions to self-creation through lectures, models, drawings, conversations, performances, and screenings. Guests including Zigeng Wang, a teacher at the School of Architecture at Central Academy of Fine Arts and the host architect of PILLS; Tao Han, a professor at the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Chao Yan, a visiting teacher at the School of Architecture and Art at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts; and Sen Mou, the director of the Cross Media School at the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, shared their creative and technical experiences.

Recently, the “A Cinematic Museum of the Everyday: A Workshop on Cinematic Architecture” was successfully held, jointly organized by the Department of Architecture at Cambridge University and the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Nanjing University. PILLS founder and lead architect Zigeng Wang was invited to work as a workshop mentor with over ten scholars and designers, including Francois Penz, a professor and head of the Department of Architecture at Cambridge University, and Qiuye Jin, a professor at Beijing University of Architecture. The workshop is divided into 14 parallel working groups, focusing on daily life as the research target, and treating images as archives of daily life. By comparing the “image archaeology” and cross-cultural differences of daily life contained in past film shots, a new understanding of “spatial daily life” is obtained. The research outcomes are presented by short films. 14 short films, together with a daily image museum, are exhibited in Shanghai Nahang Space, the Art Museum of Nanjing Art Institute, and Manchester China Contemporary Art Center.

Recently, Mosen Mostafavi, Dean of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University, held a lecture and academic seminar at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. This event was the launch of the 2019 academic theme “Bauhaus and Contemporary China” at the School of Architecture, Central Academy of Fine Arts. Professor Mustafavi combines his experience as a dean at the British Architecture Alliance, Cornell University, and Harvard University to reveal the changes in the concept, framework, identity, key nodes, and other aspects of world architecture education after Bauhaus, especially in the past three decades. He also presents his own profound insights into architecture and architecture education. At the seminar “Post Bauhaus: Intellectuals, Architecture, and Social Reconstruction” after the lecture, Zigeng Wang, as a representative of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, proposed personal practice what young scholars can do for the reflection and reconstruction of architecture in the post-Bauhaus era. This event also invited more than ten top Chinese architectural school deans, scholars, and architects jointly discussed and participated, including Mingxian Wang, Vice Director of the Institute of Architectural Arts at the Chinese Academy of Arts, Weimin Zhuang, Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tsinghua University, Zhenyu Li, Dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, Dongqing Han, Dean of the School of Architecture at Southeast University, Rong Zhou, Associate Professor of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, and Hui Wang, Chief Architect of Urban Practice, as well as numerous Alumni from Harvard university, Cornell University, and the British Architecture Alliance.

Recently, architects Xiaodu Liu and Zigeng Wang were invited as mentors for the open course of the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University. They jointly guided the third-year course with the theme of “Rural Revival Experiment of Art and Life”. The course is based on the artistic settlement of Xiaozhuo Town in Huian, Fujian. Xiaozhuo is a typical town that has been distorted in the conflict between traditional culture and modern economic life. The course leads students to conduct research under the complex context of restoring traditional culture, protecting native scenery, and seeking revitalization and development. They are asked to explore overall planning ideas and specific individual schemes, in order to provide more possibilities for the revitalization plan of Xiaozhuo Town. The course outcomes are to be exhibited at the Xiaozhuo Art Museum.

The Theme Forum “Observe the City from the Museum: New Trends in the Development of Urban Cultural Space” recently opened at the Shenzhen Contemporary Art and Urban Planning Museum. The forum was organized by the Shenzhen Planning and Land Resources Commission (Municipal Oceanic Bureau) and the Shenzhen Contemporary Art and Urban Planning Museum. PILLS founder and lead architect Zigeng Wang was invited to attend and participate in the round table discussion. The theme forum of “Observe the City from the Museum" takes the urban microcosm inside the museum as the starting point to explore and observe the urban development outside the museum and returns to the fundamental concept of “people-oriented," exploring the imprint of Shenzhen's characteristics in urban space. Zigeng Wang, along with Sen Mou, Director of the Media Exhibition Department of Cross-disciplinary Media Art School of China Academy of Fine Arts, Kangyan Deng, Vice President of Shenzhen Film and Television Association, Yuan Feng, Director of the Visual Culture Research Center of Sun Yat-sen University, and Mengdi Li, President of Silk Road Visual Technology Co., Ltd., and other guests, participated in a roundtable conference entitled “Development Trends of Shenzhen Urban Public Space."

In 1968, hundreds of thousands of people walked to the streets around the world. The anti-war has linked with demands of anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, anti-racism, and anti-bureaucracy, making “1968” a resonance moment of “rupture” in the existing order of the capitalist world. Meanwhile, the sudden changes in media and technology also profoundly reshaped the existing world order in the second half of the 20th century. However, the stance of resistance has promoted the self-evolution of capitalism and made it more resilient. Fifty years later, the critical theories of the radical left were absorbed by the academy and gradually submerged in the wave of postmodernism. Radical language and visual images such as “resistance” and “liberation” have been harvested by the marketing industry, becoming advertising strategies in segmented consumer fields. The art of resistance against “anti-culture” has become a more ironic footnote to commodity fetishism. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of 1968, PILLS, in collaboration with “Pengpai News · Thought Market” and “Single Reading”, launched a special issue titled “Radical Technology - the 50th Anniversary of 1968, Re-examination of World Order”. They publicly solicited articles with relevant themes, inviting people to re-examine the technological changes and their shaping of the world during the period of modern capitalism's “fragmentation”, and to rethink the difficulties and realities of today's world order.

“POLYPHASE - The BFA First Youth Interdisciplinary Forum" of the Beijing Film Academy was recently held in Beijing. This forum, hosted by the Beijing Film Academy, brings together nearly 30 young teachers and artists from universities such as Peking University. They rethink the essence of art from multiple research perspectives such as animation, media, photography, and design, innovating the methodology of art creation at a macro level. PILLS founder and lead architect Zigeng Wang was invited to deliver a speech named “Media and Narrative of Space Politics" at the “Interdisciplinary Narrative Generation" sub-forum. This lecture presents the architectural practices of PILLS Studio, aiming to redefine contemporary urban and architectural issues in a speculative manner. It observes and intervenes in contemporary culture in various ways, deeply explores the production mechanisms behind space, and attempts to outline the contemporary world landscape and human living conditions.

On November 11, on the occasion of the 80th and 65th anniversary of the establishment of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Chongqing University, the “2017 National Undergraduate Innovation Forum for Architecture Universities" activity series was successfully held. Zigeng Wang was invited to attend and give a speech. The forum features the theme of “The X-th Dimension of Architects - Future Practice from the Perspective of Change" and invites alumni and other architectural university guests to discuss topics such as the changing architectural spirit and their differences in the times, as well as the future practice of architectural students. During the lecture, Zigeng Wang shared his practice as a “narrator" in architecture during his studies, as well as the continuous impact of these actions on his own development. Other invited guests include Yi Liu, Executive Chief Architect of China Southwest Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., Jian Huang, Vice Director of AECOM Planning and Design, Hongtao Bo, Director and Chief Architect of Hangzhou Zhonglian Zhujing Architectural Design Co., Ltd., and Dongtao Hong, Design Director of Shanghai Dachuan Architecture Design Firm.

The course “Architecture and Modernity" offered by the School of Architecture at the Central Academy of Fine Arts for graduate students is chaired by renowned scholar Juzheng Huang, with teachers Tao Han and Zigeng Wang as academic conveners. Each year, scholars from different fields are invited to give special lectures. This course attempts to construct an open research platform for critical discussions on the relationship between architecture and modernity. In the 2017 autumn academic year, scholars such as Juzheng Huang, Qiuye Jin, Zheng Tan, Tao Han, Zigeng Wang, and Pinjing Lv brought ten special lectures to the course, using key figures and individual cases, as well as their architectural works and ideas as samples, to explore various dimensions in the historical transformation of architecture and modernity.

On September 10, 2017, the Personnel Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts announced that Zigeng Wang was appointed as a teacher at the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts.

Recently, the 10th-anniversary course of the “Parametric Nonlinear Architectural Design Seminar at the School of Architecture of Tsinghua University" successfully opened. Zigeng Wang and Ji Shi were invited to tutor the installation team. The course is guided and themed by tutors from renowned universities such as Tsinghua University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The International Forum on the Sociology of Digital Design was held during the same period.

Recently, Zigeng Wang and Xiaodu Liu were invited to the open teaching courses at the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, jointly guiding the third-year design course “Impact and Resistance: Strategies and Experiments for Urban Renewal in Old Nantou." They also led 13 students to conduct research and design discussions on the site of Old Nantou in Shenzhen. The course analyzed the topics covered in urban renewal strategies, such as infrastructure and mobility, shaping of public spaces, and transformation of space and capital. These strategies were illustrated one by one, showcasing critical thinking regarding the villages in Shenzhen cities. The course outcomes are presented in the form of drawings, models, text, and images. They will be exhibited at the 2017 Shenzhen - Hong Kong Urban Architecture Biennale.

On December 19, the “Landscape Construction ▪ Post 80s Young Architects Forum" was held at Hunan University. The New Architecture magazine and the School of Architecture of Hunan University organize this forum. The forum includes academic activities such as lectures, speeches, and exhibitions. This forum invites architects and scholars who are currently active in China to discuss topics such as “landscape," “architectural practice," and “educational practice." Zigeng Wang was invited to give a speech focusing on observing real life and exploring a series of changes related to the rapid development of modern technology through his understanding of political economy, ideology, hierarchy, etc.

On November 16, 2015, the Personnel Department of Beijing Film Academy announced that Zigeng Wang was appointed as a design teacher in the Department of Fine Arts at Beijing Film Academy.

On September 25th, Zigeng Wang was invited to give a speech titled “A Beautiful Country: Representation and Narration of Globalization Issues" at Akomixing Architecture Firm. He then had discussions with Han Li, the founder of the Painting Society, and Shen Zhuang, the founding partner of Akomixing. The speech presented three dystopian narrative design works about Beijing, Chongqing, and Dongguan in the context of economic and political globalization. The projects are all based on observations of the driving forces at different levels of current urban spatial shaping, using knowledge from architecture and other disciplines to explore critical thinking on architectural and urban spatial issues under different forms of expression in the logic of capital.

On August 10th, the International Workshop on “Design Response to Haze" at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tongji University was successfully held. Zigeng Wang was invited as a mentor. The workshop was hosted and organized by Professor Linxue Li from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University, with 48 students from top domestic and international architecture schools, including Harvard University and Tsinghua University. Iñaki Ábalos, Director of the Department of Architecture at Harvard University, architect Yonghe Zhang, and others were invited as judges for the design evaluations. The workshop theme is “Design Response to Haze - Thermodynamic Methodology in China," exploring original ideas, methods, and precedents for responding to contemporary environmental crises in China. Zigeng Wang guided students to conduct research and design within the framework of Urban Narration & System. He also delivered speeches during the workshop. In September, the design achievement exhibition and remote meeting were held at the GSD Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.

On the afternoon of May 21, the “New Path" - New Generation Architects Forum was held at the Shunde Hall in the Institute of Architectural Design and Research at Tsinghua University. The forum focuses on the theme of “New Normal · New Design," exploring changes and connections in architecture and related fields through the sharing of design works, concepts, and ideas among the new generation of architects, as well as how architects can actively take on social responsibility in a diverse society. Zigeng Wang was invited to attend the forum and delivered a speech titled “Blinding - A Possible Resistance," presenting short films such as “Beijing Blue" and “Dukkha Tower" and sharing his reflections on social observation and urban research in recent years.

On May 18, 2015, Zigeng Wang was invited to give a speech at the Red Chair Lecture Hall of the Central Academy of Fine Arts titled “Invisible - A Possible Resistance". The event was organized by the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and co-organized by the TEXTENT Architecture Society. During the lecture, Zigeng Wang shared the creative process of speculative design projects such as "A Beautiful Country" and put forward the core viewpoint that “freedom is a practice," inspiring young people to rethink the core changes in the architecture discipline, starting from a re-examination of reality and criticizing society and history.

Recently, Zigeng Wang was invited to give a lecture on “Chinese Cities and Narratives Under the Context of Globalization" at the 37th Salon at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Chongqing University. Professor Yuzhen Yang and teacher Liu Liu attended the salon as guest speakers. Zigeng Wang used three interrelated anti-utopian narrative designs in his lecture. He utilized knowledge from architecture and other disciplines to express spatial criticism under the logic of capital through three narratives about Chinese cities, exploring disciplinary topics under different presentation forms. All projects are based on the observation of the driving forces from different perspectives regarding the current urban spatial shaping, with different focuses and correlations. Meanwhile, this attention is also brought to different cities and forms of expression.