On April 30th, the “A Vision of Co-Habitation | 2024 Shenzhen Public Building Achievements Exhibition" officially opened at the Shenzhen Civic Center. Zhang Liwei, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen, Academician Meng Jianmin, Director Li Zhuo and Ouyang Ying of Bureau of Public Works of Shenzhen Municipality, visited to provide guidance. The exhibition, organized by Bureau of Public Works of Shenzhen Municipality, curated by Wang Zigeng, and designed by PILLS, saw collaboration with various entities including Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology Co., Ltd., Silkroad Visual Technology Co., Ltd., SURE Design, and Far East Photovoltaic Technology (Guangdong) Co., Ltd., to present multi-level design displays and exchange forms. Themed “A Vision of Co-Habitation," the exhibition showcased public architecture cases closely related to people's livelihoods such as education, healthcare, culture, and water affairs. It highlighted Shenzhen's efforts and achievements in humanistic care, sponge city construction, digital intelligent construction, and the application of green and low-carbon technologies. While reviewing the history of Shenzhen's public construction, it aimed to inspire people's imagination and expectations for a harmonious future life.

After years of preparation, the PILLS website (www.pills.com.cn) is officially launched! Our official website presents dozens of projects, hundreds of news, and dozens of articles and publications of the studio as an archive, making it the most comprehensive information platform about PILLS.

The 28th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) was held in the United Arab Emirates from November 30 to December 12, 2023. This conference is a milestone in global climate governance, bringing together world leaders, climate change opinion leaders, green innovation enterprises, and international mainstream media to seek specific solutions to address climate change. PILLS was invited by the Vanke Foundation to participate in the planning and completion of the “Meeting Mei Hao" - Meisha Carbon Neutrality Community Flash Event held at the Biosphere No.3 Solution Hall. Based on the multiple limitations of venue and exhibition conditions, we have chosen to use three-dimensional books as the basic concept of this exhibition. Through various methods such as models, videos, images, and sound devices, we vividly present the low-carbon practices of the Meisha Community in Yantian District, Shenzhen. We hope to make the on-site audience feel that “carbon neutrality is not the goal in itself; the goal is a better life" through sustainable exhibition design.

The 13th 751 International Design Festival “Inheritance and Return” FUTURE PAST was held from September 27th to October 6th at the 751 Park in Beijing. The PILLS sculpture series “Relationship” was invited to participate in the exhibition. This design festival has invited Naiyi Wang and Tianchong Xue as curators. The theme exhibition “Narratives of Love” is hosted by the 751 International Design Festival and jointly supported by the School of Design at the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the International Federation of Art and Design Schools (Cumulus). Our work is a subtle observation and empathy of existing objects in the city, based on the relationship between the two unseen objects in daily life, to express the complexity of interdependence and constraints in emotional relationships.

On September 22nd, the “Jean Prouvé: Crossing Design Boundaries" global tour opened. This special exhibition invited outstanding architects, designers, and artists such as Zigeng Wang, Yujie Luo, and Yanfei Shui to use nine of Jean Prouvé's iconic chairs as the medium for secondary creations. The “Biao Zhun Chair" was co-created by PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang and MotivMfg brand founder and fashion designer Guanglun Gu. Zigeng Wang attended the opening ceremony of the special exhibition and the academic forum for research sharing. The creation of the “Biao Zhun Chair" features layering and stitching pieces of blue workwear typical in the 1960s to 1980s China. The Layered fabrics were then solidified using resin. Echoing the industrial “standards" innovated a hundred years ago in Jean Prouvé's chair with the “standards" of the Chinese collectivist era. The compressing layers of fabric, similar to the “thousand-layer sole," not only imparts a unique texture distinct from conventional board materials but also pays homage to the daring experimentation with the new technology of “composite laminated boards" in the furniture industry a century ago. After stripping the paint from the chair's steel structure, the two collaborating studios' employees from PILLS and MotivMfg conveyed their thoughts on “what defines the Chinese standard and how it differs from Western standards" through graffiti-style engravings on the chair. These expressions provide diverse perspectives on the disparities and intersections between cultures and eras. Through the Standard Chair, we aim to foster a dialogue that transcends culture and time.

On July 21st, the Project Achievement Report of the Chikan New Area Cultural Architecture “Overseas Culture: Future Chikan New Landmark" was successfully held. The People's Government of Kaiping City, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, and Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture and Technology jointly initiated the project. It is the world's first international empowerment program for overseas cultural architecture. Eight groups of renowned architects, led by academician Jingtang He from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, were invited to participate in designing the “Chikan New Area Cultural Architecture Cluster" with eight spiritual buildings. PILLS founder and host architect Zigeng Wang was invited to be responsible for the architectural design of the Situ Library, one of the eight buildings. Zigeng Wang reported on the current design of the Situ Library building. The design concept extracts the Lingnan courtyard's unique gap spaces, structural networks, and indoor-outdoor relationships. It creates a pleasant learning and quiet thinking environment through rational planning and natural elements.

On July 8th, the Ningbo Cuiping Mountain Architectural Culture Festival and the “Historical Town · Rehabilitation and Topophilia - Exhibition of Works by Emerging Architects" were held at the Baozhu Tower in Cicheng. The exhibition was co-curated by Hao Wang, co-founder and host architect of Yiren Construction Architecture Studio, and Zigeng Wang, founder and host architect of PILLS Studio. PILLS showcased their works, including the “Yuncheng Wugu Shisi Restaurant," “Yangzhou Sanwan Park 'The Forest Library' Canal Study Room," and “MotivMfg Brand Store." The Cuiping Mountain (Cicheng) Architectural Culture Festival and the “Historical Town · Rehabilitation and Topophilia" dialogue between architecture and culture were held simultaneously. Hao Wang and Zigeng Wang jointly served as the overall planners of the event. Zigeng Wang gave a speech titled “Installation, Space, and Biennale: Several Means to be Involved in Urban Publicity," exploring innovative approaches to the revitalization of the ancient city. He also discussed how contemporary people, land, and architecture can establish new models and envision the future in revitalizing the ancient city of Cicheng.

On the evening of May 13th, the CCTV News reported on the 2023 Shenzhen International Fisheries Expo. The Expo was curated and designed by PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang, and PILLS Studio is responsible for the curation and overall design of the “Shenzhen Fisheries Development Planning and Construction Exhibition." Tsinghua University Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd. is responsible for content planning, and Shanghai Fengyuzhu Cultural Technology Co., Ltd. is responsible for on-site implementation. The three units work together to challenge and break through traditional exhibition planning and spatial design, showcasing the blueprint of Shenzhen's fisheries with museum-level standards. At the same time, the exhibition aims to further stimulate the attention of fisheries practitioners and the general public to marine ecology and the concept of the “big food chain" through the platform of the first Shenzhen International Fisheries Expo, jointly looking forward to a future with sustainable development in the deep blue.

The 2023 Shenzhen International Fisheries Expo will be held at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center (Futian) Hall 1 from May 11th to 13th. Shenzhen Fisheries Expo is a high-standard, high-level global fisheries event. The “Shenzhen Fisheries Development Planning and Construction Exhibition" will be held at the venue's central location. PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang was invited as the chief curator and exhibition designer of the Fisheries Expo. PILLS Studio is responsible for the curation and overall design of the “Shenzhen Fisheries Development Planning and Construction Exhibition." Tsinghua University Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd. is responsible for content planning, and Shanghai Fengyuzhu Cultural Technology Co., Ltd. is responsible for on-site implementation. The three units join forces to challenge and break through traditional exhibition planning and spatial design, showcasing the blueprint of Shenzhen's fisheries with museum-level standards. The exhibition presented four chapters in a series: “Farming at Sea in Great Tide," "Ecological Sustainability," "Go to the Deep Blue Sea," and “Shenzhen in the Future". Through dozens of representative exhibits and audiovisual works, combined with multimedia interactive devices, it leads people to explore how Shenzhen has transformed from the traditional “farming and fishing" lifestyle to a modern capital of fisheries, creating a new immersive “fishing" cultural experience. At the same time, with the platform of the first Shenzhen International Fisheries Expo, the exhibition aims to further stimulate the attention of fisheries practitioners and the general public to marine ecology and the concept of “big food chain," jointly looking forward to the future with sustainable development in the deep blue.

On the afternoon of March 28th, Zigeng Wang, the host architect of PILLS, was invited to attend the “Future Chikan: Ancient and Modern, Chinese and Foreign" Urban Architecture Art Forum and the launching ceremony of the Chikan New Area Cultural Architecture Project. Under the guidance of the Kaiping Municipal People's Government, the event was hosted by the Kaiping Chikan Ancient Town Cultural Tourism Development and Construction Management Committee and the Chikan People's Government, undertaken by Shanghai Fengyu Building Culture and Technology Co., Ltd. Experts, scholars, architects, and artists, together with leaders from Jiangmen City and Kaiping City, conducted research and investigation on historical buildings in Kaiping, providing suggestions and ideas for the future development of urban architecture in Chikan and witnessing the launch of the Chikan New Area Cultural Architecture Project. In the subsequent architectural co-creation, Zigeng Wang, Jingtang He, Heng Liu, Yichun Liu, Fanhao Meng, Lei Zhang & Xiaohua Lei, Ming Zhang, and Ziyu Zhang will each design one of the eight buildings in the Chikan New Area, collectively envision the future of Chikan.

The 9th edition of the UABB is featured on the cover of the January/February 2023 issue of The Art Newspaper (Chinese Edition). The issue includes an introductory article titled “The 9th Evolution of UABB: Another Bay Area Landscape Emerging from the 'Urban Habitat'", which shares with readers the exploration of “how to coordinate the relationships between people and communities, buildings, and natural ecosystems in a post-urban environment, embarking on the imaginative cohabitation."

On March 4th, “Xiaohai Wu: Intranquil Nature” opened at the IOMA Art Center. Xiaohai Wu was once named one of the “Top Ten Most Promising Artists of the Year.” The exhibition is curated by Zikang Zhang, the director of the Art Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition is academically hosted by Dian Fan, the president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The exhibition includes over 230 artworks of various forms; all centered around the theme of “nature”. It is Xiaohai Wu's largest solo exhibition to date. PILLS was invited to be responsible for the spatial design of the exhibition. The exhibition layout follows the artist's artistic trajectory and incorporates the concepts of “maze”，“horizon”，“horizon” and “curtain.” It reveals a unique exhibition path to visitors, leading them to contemplate the essence of “viewing” while experiencing the artworks on “nature.”

On February 5th, Phoenix TV's “Dream Building Worldwide” released a themed report on the 9th UABB. In this episode, “Dream Building Worldwide” narrates the exhibition of the 9th UABB and the story behind the Jinpi Factory (formerly known as the Luohu Jinwei Brewery), responding to the question of “how to create a vibrant city?" through exhibitions at this year's Shenzhen Double, and explore various major events currently happening globally: climate change, conflicts and wars, food and energy crises.

On January 13, 2022, the concluding exhibition “Blueprint Beijing” of the first Beijing Art Biennale was unveiled at the Beijing M Woods Hutong (Qianliang Hutong Museum). This exhibition is curated by architect Yansong Ma and co-organized by MAD Architects. The theme “Blueprint Beijing” focuses on two perspectives: “historical memories” and “future fantasies.” Twenty domestic and foreign architects, including Peter Cook, Ito Toyo, and Eric Owen Moss, are invited to create architectural models, installations, images, and more. Zigeng Wang's work “Imagined Beijing” is exhibited. The work “Imagined Beijing” imitates the design of the Altar City and forms two possible urban model diagrams through two different transformation methods. It expresses the tension between the ideal city and the mixed real world. The former is imagined, harmonious, orderly, and hierarchically structured, while the latter is expressive, diverse, and mixed.

In 2022, Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of the 9th UABB, invited the fashion brand STAFFONLY to develop a customized UABB Uniform for the curatorial team and exhibition staff. STAFFONLY took inspiration from the architecture of the main exhibition venue of this year's UABB, the Jinwei Brewery, and combined it with the sustainable theme of the factory city to explore new design concepts, showcasing the work attire style in the new industrial fashion. Zigeng Wang believes that consumer brands can express their concern for sustainability through the exploration of a new model. "Universal Uniforms" provides us with an example of this approach from the dimensions of materials and design. Additionally, Zigeng Wang shared his thoughts on the relationship between clothing and architecture. He believes that “in a broad sense, architecture provides a shelter for human behavior, while clothing protects the body. Both offer various forms of support and maintenance for actions. The boundary between architecture and clothing is ambiguous regarding material application, especially as contemporary architecture explores more flexible materials such as fabrics. Architects cultivate an aesthetic system focusing on material space and structural sensibility, allowing them to approach new creations conceptually.”

On the evening of December 18th, the opening ceremony of the 9th UABB, “Living Together," featured a performance in the main exhibition hall. “Living Together" was designed and directed by Zigeng Wang, the chief curator of this year's UABB and the host architect of PILLS. He created an art piece that is a large-scale sphere installation composed of nine groups of “petals." Each petal is created based on the conical shape of the brewery fermentation tank bottom, covered with patterns representing nine urban cosmologies, including land, vegetation, and animals. These installations are scattered throughout the main exhibition hall and are collected, merged, and assembled into a complete spherical installation by the dancers. The performance aims to create harmony and coexistence among all living beings, emphasizing mutual respect and coexistence. By combining art installations with dance, the immersive performance introduces the relationship between various exhibition areas to the audience, blending the viewing experience with the interaction between the performers and the exhibits, conveying the interaction between humans and living beings. “Living Together" showcases the inclusive value of a city that gathers diverse forces, expressing the deep friendship between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Such friendship was cultivated during the nine sessions of UABB, elevating this year's opening week activities to a climax.

On the afternoon of December 10th, the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (UABB) opening ceremony was held at the GDH City · Jinpi Fang, Luohu District, Shenzhen. Guests who participated in the ceremony included Hong Kong Chief Executive Jiachao Li, Shenzhen Mayor Weizhong Qin, Vice Mayor Hua Zhang, Vice Chairman of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee, and Director of the Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau Youpeng Wang, the Municipal Government Secretary Shengyuan Gao, District Mayor Defan Fan of Luohu District People's Government, Chief Curators Andong Lu and Zigeng Wang, etc. The 9th UABB is co-curated by PILLS host architect Zigeng Wang, architecture and urban planning scholar Andong Lu, and curator Aric Chen. Following the principle of “City as Biennale, Exhibition is Action," the Biennale is divided into five main sections: “Urgent Question," “More-than-human Adventure," “Cosmologic Dialogue," “Co-Living Lab," and “Common Action." It also includes six special sections: “Sound of the Cosmo," “Cosmo Library," “Cosmo Suit," “Circular Creation," Shelter for Urban Animals," and “Art Museums Partnership." Additionally, there are three themed pavilions: “UABB Pavilion," “Hong Kong Pavilion," and “Luohu Pavilion," as well as a permanent exhibition called “Making On Site." The Biennale focuses on contemporary cities' green and sustainable development, exploring urban strategies in the context of global climate change and seeking a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.

On November 27th, UCCA Lab collaborated with PILLS to present the Mercedes-EQ Public Art Project in Zhangyuan, Shanghai. The project aims to evoke the audience's perception of the vitality of all lives through the language of art, leading them to embark on a journey through time and culture. In the constant cycle of looking back and moving forward, the project hopes to move towards a harmonious integration of humanity, technology, and nature. Named “Tidal Seas," this project envisions Zhangyuan as a fertile sea carrying the memories of a century-old city. Marine coral organisms inspire the art installation's overall design and incorporate the Mercedes EQS's streamlined body. The sleek structure spreads throughout the courtyard, presenting vigorous growth. The installation uses traditional lantern craftsmanship, restoring the organic form of the digital model. At night, the lights' intensity and rhythm simulate living organisms' breathing rhythm. The interplay of light and shadow shines through the blue fabric, complemented by starry lights dotted along the structure's lines. In the changing rhythm of inhalation and exhalation, it seems like a vast marine life awakens from the ocean's depths, inviting the audience to enter its body and perceive the warmth and vitality of “things" with their bodies.

PILLS was invited to design a booth for the “THE 8 X JEFF KOONS Limited Edition Collection" during the 2022 West Coast Expo. This global limited edition 99 sports car combines BMW's advanced manufacturing technology and artist Jeff Koons' pop art symbol, making it a “work of art that can run on the road" and a precious work that can become a museum collection. PILLS correspondingly created a display field for “THE 8 X JEFF KOONS", integrating the energy of time and space, aggregating light and color, and presenting the potential of works to break through the boundaries of art and technology, creating culture and commerce in all aspects. We select pop symbols such as explosions and stripes on the body painting and translate them into spatial devices so that JEFF KOONS' painting is no longer flat art but an abstract pop art energy that flows away from the canvas towards reality. The sports car was surrounded by a bright yellow color, creating a three-dimensional and explosive geometric tunnel. The tunnel blooms on the side facing the audience, symbolizing the infinite possibility of breaking boundaries and heading toward the future.

On the evening of September 27th, the first promotional event of the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (UABB) was held in the A18 Fashion Corridor of Beijing 751D·Park. Based on the theme of “Urban Cosmologies" in this year's UABB, two round table dialogues were set up for the Beijing Promotion Conference, with the topics of “City and Exhibition" and “Art and Daily Life." The conversation is based on the “Cosmologic Dialogue" section of this year's UABB and extended by the “Special Section." Taking into account the specific context of Beijing, by presenting a diverse worldview of humanity, living beings, and all things, the conversation aims to rethink the inherent understanding of the relationship between cities, humans, and nature. Cancan Cui, Han Li, Zhe He, Tao Han, Ying Long, Yichen Lu, Rong Zhou, Fei Che, Yang You, Sha Zhu, Tianchong Xue, Mengsha Zhao, Chuan Tian, Jun Fei, and others (arranged in order of appearance) were invited as special guests to attend the promotion event and engage in interdisciplinary cross-generational dialogue. In addition, due to epidemic control measures, guests such as Aric Chen, Li Hua, Xiangning Li, Xinggang Li, Yunfeng Lin, Heng Liu, Jiakun Liu, Xiaodu Liu, Andong Lu, Yansong Ma, Wei Pang, Zhouping Qingshan, Min An Wang, Hui Wang, Mingdan Yan, Li Zhang, Yonghe Zhang, Yuxing Zhang, Zhiyang Zhang, Rong Zhao, Rongyuan Zhu, Ziyu Zhuang, etc. (sorted alphabetically by their surnames, in no particular order), participated in this promotion event through video recording and expressed their blessings to this year's UABB.

In 2022, the first Chinese store of the Nordic professional outdoor brand Peak Performance settled in Sanlitun. UCCA Lab specially invited Swedish artist Jesper Nyrén, architect Zigeng Wang, and PILLS studio to create a public art installation with an enclosure function for the first store of Peak Performance in China. This device is based on Jespe Nielen's painting “Untitled (Fold III)." The device extracts the triangular elements from the painting and combines them with the geometric features of the brand logo, transforming the mistakenly perceived space in the painting into a continuous “mountain" shape. PILLS chose the Peak Performance 2022 Autumn/Winter color card as the basic color for filling the triangular surface in the design and cleverly incorporated the brand logo into the triangular surface collage at the corner of the bumper, showcasing its brand history originating from high mountains. This work uses the language of art and architecture to convey an aesthetic and experience that breaks through the inherent visual framework to the audience in public spaces, redefining its significance and role in urban life by blurring the functionality of enclosure and display.

On August 24th, Shenzhen held the first press conference of the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (Shenzhen) (hereinafter referred to as “UABB"). Qiang Ding, secretary general of the Shenzhen Biennale Organizing Committee and vice director of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Planning and Natural Resources; Guangyong Huo, vice district mayor of Luohu District, Shenzhen; Yuxing Zhang, director of the 9th Biennale Committee; Andong Lu, as well as Zigeng Wang, chief curator of the 9th UABB provided updates and answered questions from news reporters. Yun Wu, vice minister of the Municipal Propaganda Department and director of the Municipal Government Information Office, held the press conference. This press conference is also the first urban cultural event of the year to be held in the press conference hall. During the meeting, the theme of the 9th UABB was officially announced as “Urban Cosmologies." The main exhibition venue is located in GDH City · Jinpi Fang (Kingway Brewery Industrial Heritage), Luohu District, Shenzhen. This is the first time that the main exhibition venue of UABB has landed in Luohu.

On July 23, 2022, the “Mickey: The Ture Original & Ever Curious Exhibition" China Tour opened in the 798 Art District of Beijing. Disney organized this event in collaboration with UCCA Lab, a subsidiary of the UCCA Group. As the closing station of China Tour, Beijing will present the largest Mickey art experience ever and the largest number of participating artists to the audience. PILLS chief architect Zigeng Wang was invited to participate as a Disney-certified artist. Zigeng Wang's exhibition work “Mickeyverse" fictionalizes an archaeological discovery and uses fictional "objects" to infer and confuse the boundary between reality and the creation of the “subject of objects." The artist selected aerospace shapes and technical features from the 1960s and created an archaeological discovery displayed in a museum by simulating and imagining the use of Mickey's head. Through the fictional “archaeology" and detailed reproduction of the helmet, we constructed the imaginary space of Mickey's existence, inferred the fuzzy zone between the long-standing artistic image and reality, and challenged the “virtual structure" of images and stories in the two-dimensional world with the extremely real “fiction" in the real world.

On May 24th, the complete list of curators for the 9th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (UABB) was officially announced. PILLS founder and chief architect Zigeng Wang, architecture and urban planning scholar Andong Lu, and design curator Aric Chen jointly serve as the overall curator. PILLS, as the curation team, is responsible for signing project contract documents, collecting contract payments, organizing and coordinating work, and other related matters. The curator team believes that the 9th UABB has a special core mission: to explore how the urban and architectural fields can play a role in new green and sustainable development models. The exhibition will focus on the near future, a future that maintains tension and interaction with the present, and we need to deal with it immediately. We are committed to discovering future-oriented thinking breakthroughs and practical genes, preparing ourselves conceptually, methodically, and technically for the future. Another central theme of the 9th UABB is to encourage youth programs. Excellent young architects, designers, artists, and scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds will join the curation team or exhibitors with innovative ideas. At the same time, this year's Biennale will invite multiple well-known institutions and universities domestically and internationally to jointly explore cutting-edge global environmental issues and respond to local issues in Shenzhen and even the Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao Greater Bay Area.

Recently, Zigeng Wang was invited to participate in the “I am a chair" project for the 2021-2022 year, completing the “Hedgehog" chair. The “A Second Life for Wandering Chairs" program is continuous recycling, gathering, design, exhibition, and reuse of chairs. The project is planned by the China Academy of Fine Arts, School of Innovative Design, and Institute of Social and Strategic Research. It recycles unused and abandoned old chairs from the community. These chairs, also becoming freshman Public facilities, are designed, renovated, and reused by the cross-disciplinary teacher and student teams to activate daily life. The back of the “Hedgehog" chair can be the sitting surface, and the sitting surface can also be the chair back, blurring the traditional experience of the “chair back - chair seat" formation and relationship, forming a mirror symmetry in visual and functional aspects. The “Hedgehog" chair creates a unique aesthetic experience and brings more possibilities for chair usage and scenes. People can sit on flat ground through the “Hedgehog" chair or lie on stairs or slopes. The relationship between body and space is updated through the connection of chairs.

After deliberation by the selection and evaluation team of the 9th Urbanism/Architecture Bi-City Biennale (UABB) of Shenzhen and Hong Kong, it is agreed that Andong Lu, Zigeng Wang, and Aric Chen will be appointed as the chief curators of the 9th UABB (Shenzhen). PILLS Studio is the business entity of the curation team, responsible for signing project contract documents, collecting contract payments, organizing and coordinating work, and other related matters.

On the afternoon of December 11th, the 2021 Jimei x Arles International Photo Festival “Curatorial Award for Photography and Moving lmage" ceremony was held at Three Shadows Photography Art Centre in Xiamen. Feiran Jiang, an artist and curator from the China Academy of Fine Arts, won the first Jimei Arles Curator Award for his project “Unnamed River." This project was jointly founded by Chanel and the Three Shadows Photography Art Center, co-organized by the Arles Photography Festival in France and the Modern Communication Group, attracting outstanding curators to participate in interdisciplinary research on imaging. PILLS is responsible for designing the trophy based on the cross coordinates used in the imaging field. Through the stacking, combining, and cutting of forms, a three-dimensional cross structure with varied spatial relationships forms the intention of star clusters, symbolizing the emergence of a new generation of young curators shining with stars. The main structure of the trihedron is intertwined and mirrored, forming a stable supporting relationship, symbolizing that the award is a product of close cooperation among multiple parties. The three main branches that increase in height in sequence support the formation of a tree-like structure in the cross-star cluster, expressing the support and expectations of this award for the growth of young image curators.

On October 24th, the installation work “1994," created by Zigeng Wang, was exhibited at the Pingshan Art Museum in Shenzhen, and a project press conference was held. This solo exhibition, organized by the Pingshan Art Museum, is the second "Hometown Series" project hosted by the Shenzhen Pingshan District Bureau of Cultural, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports. The project press conference was hosted by Xiaodu Liu, the curator of Pingshan Art Museum, who invited Zigeng Wang to share recent practices and reflections on his work "1994". At the same time, he invited Dan Cao, the publisher of “The Art Newspaper China;" Gang Zhong, the chief editor of “ARTDBL;" Rong Zhao, the director of design interconnection; architect and curator Yuxing Zhang, as conversation guests to discuss architects' interdisciplinary experiments, personal narratives, and place memory, exploring the connection and spiritual meaning between hometown and other places in Shenzhen. “1994" originated from the time that Zigeng Wang spent with his father during his childhood. The work reproduces memory fragments through mechanical, visual, interactive, and framing methods. It juxtaposes different virtual images in the scene space through the principle of optical reflection, forming a narrative space that is related to but independent of the real space. It also creates contingency within it, bringing about multiple levels of narrative. This work begins with the author's father-son memories while exploring the cycle of dependence, opposition, reconciliation, and regret in kinship.

On September 25th, UCCA Lab Debut Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition in Southern China, titled “Something Begets Something More: New Tales of Saikwan," opened in Yongqingfang, Guangzhou. PILLS was invited to complete the space and display design for this exhibition. The exhibition invites three contemporary Chinese artists, Wei He, Xiaoqing Cui, and Noise Temple, to engage in a dialogue with eight groups of inheritors of intangible cultural heritage (Canton Cake Printing, Ivory Carving, Canton Embroidery, Canton Lion Dancing, Lingnan Guqin, Canton Enamel, Canton Flute, Canton Olive Carving, and Canton Porcelain) through various forms of artistic expression, attempting to explore the relationship between intangible cultural heritage and the present as well as future. The exhibition design utilizes the characteristics of spatial correspondence and structural clearness within the venue, allowing for spatial correspondence between new and old time clues in intangible cultural heritage memories. The exhibition hall is divided into three sets of corresponding spatial forms, each flexibly responding to different design needs. The first floor showcases the future, where three (group) artists endow and interpret the rebirth of three intangible cultural heritage techniques through contemporary artistic language. The second floor presents the past, with three sets of intangible cultural heritage techniques behind the contemporary artworks exhibited at the same location. Looking at each other in the past and future, the cross-sectional plane of architecture is the longitudinal plane of intangible cultural heritage memory.

In September 2021, the Wu Jian'an Solo Exhibition “The Huge Sand Dunes are the Bed of the Sea" opened at the Silk Road International Art Center. Zhenhua Li served as the curator for this exhibition, and PILLS was invited to be responsible for the exhibition's spatial design. This exhibition systematically organized the artist's creative process and presented a series of his representative large-scale installation artworks. The artist's continuous exploration of the blending of old and new, the transformation of images, and the evolution of materials slowly unfold with spatial sequences as clues. The PILLS design aims to create large-scale immersive scenes for artistic works, placing material elements such as sand dunes and water surfaces in a large-scale space, shaping a space of endless energy in tension and balance. The viewer is in a space where light, shadow, and objects are reflected, mirrored, and extended. The stillness and displacement of the body become important coordinates for experiencing the exhibition. Finite and infinite, illusion and reality alternate here.

Invited by UCCA Lab, a subsidiary of UCCA Group, PILLS recently completed the renovation design of the ARCFOX temporary exhibition hall for the “ARCFOX x UCCA Lab Boundless Art Space." The exhibition hall will be repeatedly built and used in seven cities along with ARCFOX brand promotion activities. PILLS has effectively responded to this design task by renovating the existing tent within a total design and construction time of around two weeks, considering various design limitations and possibilities. The spatial design is based on the brand image of ARCFOX. After multiple iterations of the “valley-ridge" form of the snow mountain, the design scheme utilizes a seven-story circular cross-section to construct a hollow mountain, creating a negative “polar snow mountain" inside the existing tent.

Recently, commissioned by Shenzhen Vanke, the showroom of the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters, renovated and designed by PILLS, was completed. The headquarters in the core area of Qianhai, Shenzhen, is built for the future urban center as a paradigm. The design of the base city showroom combines technology and circulation to create a spatial narrative, utilizing interactive models and multimedia devices to create an immersive experience with multi-sensory participation. The design guides emotional rhythms with light, space, and materials, accommodating various exhibitions. The plan flexibly uses cutting-edge visual language to express urban concepts and values, creates an atmosphere, constructs narratives, and depicts the blueprint of the Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters as the city gateway during the construction process of the Greater Bay Area, showcasing the achievements of Shenzhen's urban construction.

On June 19th, the exhibition “Becoming Better People - New Generation Work Methods" opened at the Beijing Wind H Art Center, PILLS artwork “1994" was exhibited. This exhibition, planned by independent curator Cancan Cui, focuses on the new art phenomena presented by the most representative new generation of artists in the fields of art, architecture, and design in recent years, as well as the changes in their new identities. The participating artists include Zigeng Wang, Tianzhuo Chen, Drawing Architecture Studio, Yulu Ge, Shuzhi Mei, Youyu Ni, Wenmin Tong, Zhao Zhao, Yilun Zhou, Sha Zhu, and others. The artwork “1994" originated from a private memory of Zigeng Wang's childhood and his father. The work reproduces fragments of memory through mechanical, visual, interactive, and framing methods. It uses optical reflection principles to juxtapose different virtual images in the scene space, forming a narrative space that is related to but independent of the real space, creating contingency within it, and creating multiple levels of narrative. This work begins with the author's father-son memories while exploring the cycle of dependence, opposition, reconciliation, and regret in kinship.

Cultural Relics Bureau of Kaiyuan, Yunnan Province, recently announced the evaluation results of the curation and conceptual design proposals for the Kaiyuan Industrial Museum. PILLS stood out among the four competing proposals and won the bid, and will be commissioned by the Industrial Museum’s Construction Leading Group to refine the design further.

On October 24th, “Nine-Tiered Pagoda: Spatial and Visual Magic" launch project and the solo exhibition of the art group Polit-Sheer-Form Office (PSFO) -- “Unity is Strength" , opened at Pingshan Art Museum. “Nine-Tiered Pagoda" was initiated by curator Cancan Cui and architect Xiaodu Liu, consisting of nine sub-exhibitions created collaboratively by nine “artists + architects + graphic designers." As the first project of the “Nine-Tiered Pagoda" series, “Unity is Strength" is based on the works done by PSFO. The project invited architect Zigeng Wang from PILLS to design the exhibition space and graphic designer Zhizhi Liu from STUDIO NA.EO to create the visual system. The spatial design by PILLS for this project is derived from the interpretation of the portrait “Mr. Zheng" by PSFO. The portrait “Mr. Zheng" is a digital synthesis of the facial features of five PSFO members. The spatial design responds through the collage and juxtaposition of five typical collectivist spaces (water room, cafeteria, projection hall, barbershop, bathhouse). This space creates an infinitely extending blue corridor of a “tube-shaped building," a place for games detached from the content, connecting the display needs of PSFO's different media works. A series of collective memory symbols are laid out here based on abstract forms, leading the viewers into a familiar past and an unprecedented dreamland.

Zigeng Wang participated in the OCAT Shanghai Pavilion's Architecture Exhibition titled “Spatial Training: Some Houses (post-Reform and Opening-Up) and Some Buildings (post-World Expo)." The architect Chen Liang curated the exhibition and invited twelve young architects, including Zigeng Wang, Jiujiang Fan, Liaohui Guo, Yuan Jin, Wei Li, Chen Liu, Kenan Liu, Yang Liu, Shaobo Lu & Yilin Liu, and Yanfei Shui. The exhibition showcased twelve “buildings" that spanned the periods of reform and opening up and the Shanghai World Expo. The exhibition aimed to present cultural fragments that closely reflect an era and resonate collectively through the richness and uniqueness of individual experiences. Zigeng Wang's work “1994" originated from a period he spent with his father during his childhood. The work recreates fragments of memories through the combined use of mechanics, images, interaction, and staging. It uses the principles of optical reflection to juxtapose different virtual images in the spatial setting, creating a narrative space that is connected yet independent from the actual space. It also introduces chance elements in the space, bringing multiple layers of storytelling. This work is based on the personal memories of the author's father-son relationship while exploring the cycle of dependence, opposition, reconciliation, and regret within familial bonds.

The X Art Museum will open on March 17, 2020, and will launch the first X Art Museum Triennial Exhibition, “Terminal>How Do We Begin?”. This exhibition attempts to sort out the trends of the millennial generation in the digital age, analyze the impact of media terminals on group perception and communication, and invite artists from cross-media practice to participate in discussions. PILLS hosted the exhibition of architect Zigeng Wang's works “Black Mary” and “Bitter Tower.” On the one hand, “Black Mary” points to the borrowing of film tools, and on the other hand, it implies a human dilemma, using models to metaphorically depict the alienated relationship between systematic people and the supply system. The exhibition work “Bitter Tower” attempts to explain the contradictions and tensions hidden in the geographical landscape of current global capital activities through the geographical reset of the global industrial chain of Apple products.

The 8th Shenzhen Hong Kong City / Architecture Twin Cities Biennale recently opened, with PILLS' artwork “Manufacturing Human_Eve's Choice" exhibited at the main exhibition hall, Shenzhen Contemporary Art and Urban Planning Museum (MOCAUP). The curators of the biennial exhibition included Jianmin Meng, an academician of the CAE Member, and Fabio Cavalucci, a famous curator and art critic. The exhibition theme is “Urban Interactions,” focusing on how technological progress will affect the relationship between cities and people, science and technology, nature, and the relationship between them. “Manufacturing Human_Eve's Choice" presents a brand new human made up of precise computer segmentation and splicing. She was wrapped in a transparent plastic film in a curled-up posture. The pipeline winding around the doll not only conveys her life and energy but also restricts her actions. The bitten-off apple in the doll's hand - the forbidden fruit in the Bible - is a technological totem of the Cyber era. The concept of “creating humans” implies that humans have chosen the fate of cybernetics, and electronic media has become the “prosthetic” of humans. People and external technology are interdependent.

The 8th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture (Shenzhen) recently opened, with PILLS work “Artificial Nature: the Other Fruits" exhibited in the sub-exhibition area of Bao An Bridge Front Community. The theme of this exhibition is “Coordinates: Theater," connecting domestic and foreign architects, artists, designers, and related research institutions. The Biennale perceives social space through multiple fields and perspectives of intervention and communication, establishing a relationship with the space of modern industrial relics through exploring the connection between past people and themselves, nature, and mythology.

On April 14, 2019, Shougang Venice's “Steel Home Still" curatorial notes were published in the 7th edition of the People's Daily Overseas Edition. Curators Hongtao Bo and Zigeng Wang shared the planning ideas and exhibition design of the Shougang Exhibition in this article. As the exhibition title “Steel Home Still" suggests, the curator positions the exhibition as "presenting the history, present, and future of Shougang Industrial Zone from an individual and family narrative perspective." At the same time, this exhibition utilizes media languages from different fields, such as architecture, film, stage setting, graphic design, literature, multimedia, photography, etc., in an immersive experience, opening up a memory of time belonging to Shougang for the audience of Venice. From a macro perspective, it outlines the construction process of urban revitalization represented by Shougang Park.

Recently, the Shenzhen Pingshan Art Museum (New Museum) held a grand opening exhibition organized by the Pingshan District People's Government of Shenzhen: “Unknown City: China Contemporary Architecture Installation Image Exhibition (Pingshan)”. An academic forum is held at the same time. PILLS artwork “Black Maria” was invited to participate in the exhibition, and Zigeng Wang attended the opening ceremony and participated in academic discussions. This exhibition is a large-scale professional exhibition, with Yuxing Zhang, Cheng Ye, and Jing Han as curators, Jianguo Wang, Jianmin Meng, and the Chinese academician Kai Cui, as academic consultants. Through the works of 71 exhibitors (including institutions and consortiums), this exhibition reflected on the systematic aspect of human physical living space and the direction of the future architectural development of the new generation in a logical way from multiple fields and perspectives. “Black Maria” is a spatial fable that is inconsistent in appearance. It is a space specialized in producing falsehoods. The model is a three-layer wrapped structure, with a green curtain room containing a crib at its core. Green screen technology is a common technique in the later stages of movies. It constructs a fake carrier of the environment., which relies on the complex infrastructure supply system above it. The room becomes the terminal of such a machinery supply system. This system is hidden in a fake facade of film production, which originated from the Overlook Hotel where the author's family was imprisoned in director Stanley Kubrick's film “The Shining”. Zigeng Wang hopes to use model works as a metaphor for the alienated relationship between systematic people society and the supply system.

Recently, the exhibition “Steel Home Still: Exhibition of Urban Regeneration Achievements of Shougang Industrial Heritage Park & No.3 Blast Furnace Museum", opened in Venice, Italy. The exhibition was organized by Shougang Group, Beijing Shougang Construction Investment Co., Ltd., Zhujing Design, and Beijing Shougang International Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. It was initiated and planned by Zhujing Design Chief Architect Hongtao Bo, and co-curated by PILLS founder and host architect Zigeng Wang. The exhibition takes the transformation of industrial heritage in the northern area of Shougang Park as a clue to explore the transformation path of China's modernization. It expresses the history, present status, and future of the Shougang Industrial Zone in micro abstraction, through immersive spatial and individual narratives The exhibition “Casting Memories: Achievements of Urban Revitalization", gathers creators from various fields such as architecture, drama, literature, multimedia, and film, including exhibition design director Zigeng Wang, digital media creative director Jun Fei, landscape art director Nali Zhao, narrative script author Fangzhou Jiang, narrative design designer Lei Shang, model director Yijie Chen, and graphic design director Zhizhi Liu. The curators and creative team broke the disciplinary boundaries and collaborated to complete this set of montage space installations that tell the story of the times and the collective, bringing empathy to the audience through multi-angle narratives.

On July 13, the film “Hidden Man,” directed and written by Jiang Wen and adapted from the martial arts novel “Xiayin” by Zhang Beihai, was released. “Hidden Man” is the final installment of Jiang Wen's Republic of China trilogy, depicting a revenge story set against the backdrop of the outbreak of the “Marco Polo Bridge Incident” in 1937, during a time of national crisis. Zigeng Wang served as the director's architectural history and environmental consultant (construction adviser) and was involved in the two-year preparation process for the film. Through the excavation and research of first-hand materials related to ancient architecture, Zigeng Wang contributed to the historical reconstruction and scene creation of the streets of Beijing during the Republic of China period. Simultaneously, he collaborated with the special effects, photography, and art departments to construct a 40,000-square-meter “rooftop world" for shooting, presenting spectacular scenes of the protagonist's extraordinary feats of “rooftop walking" to the audience.

On September 5, the 2014 “Get it Louder Exhibition” opened in the southern area of Taikouli, Sanlitun, Beijing. Zigeng Wang's work “Dukkha Tower" was invited to participate in the architectural exhibition. Yonghe Zhang served as the curator of the architectural exhibition at this year's “Get it Louder Exhibition,” showcasing 17 projects created by Zigeng Wang, Xin Wang, FCJZ Studio, URBANUS, Atelier Deshaus, and Drawing Architecture Studio. Zigeng Wang's exhibition work “Dukkha Tower” is one of the “A Beautiful Country” trilogy, depicting a typical picture of capitalist activities in the context of globalization through the geographical reset of a typical product (iPhone) global industrial chain. The project attempts to showcase the contradictions and tensions in the geographical landscape of capitalist activities, the education and taming of others by neocolonialism under surface conditions, and the questioning of globalization.