MAD Architects completes City of Time at the 2024 Aranya Theatre Festival

The 2024 City of Time encourages people to freely move through the various settlements in the sand city, experiencing different daily life scenes at various times of the day...

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From the architect: The 2024 Aranya Theatre Festival is currently underway in Qinhuangdao, North China's Hebei Province. This annual global event will feature 29 plays from 17 countries, transcending artistic boundaries with a diverse array of contemporary, open, and inclusive performances. Hundreds of artists from literature, music, dance, architecture, and other fields come together to create a vibrant artistic community and explore the beautiful summertime by the sea.

A highlight of this year's festival is the ‘Migratory Bird 300’ public art project, which invites 300 artists to live, interact, and create within a specially designed sand city for 300 hours, fostering deep connections and innovative collaborations. After 300 hours, the festival disassembles the temporary city’s infrastructure to restore the site to its original state.

Ma Yansong/MAD Architects has returned to design this year’s ‘City of Time’ for ‘Migratory Bird 300’, following the success of last year’s design. MADs approach offers a surreal and dreamy 300-hour experience that thoughtfully blends art with architecture.

MAD’s design for the 2023 City of Time was a singular, enclosed community. For 2024, the design has evolved to include a road with independent settlements spread along its path. This more distributed layout, like the development of ancient city-states, offers artists and audiences more open spaces for connection and clearer pathways for exploration.

The 2024 City of Time encourages people to freely move through the various settlements in the sand city, experiencing different daily life scenes at various times of the day.

The low walls divide the space while also guiding people to discover their way, maintaining a sense of openness. The design offers visual cues that help artists and participants navigate and uncover new paths and exits. This design not only makes the City of Time more accessible but also encourages exploration, as people are enticed to find new routes. In this layered environment, artists and participants connect, sparking inspiration and creativity. As people watch and are watched, a dynamic interplay unfolds, creating a shared experience that fosters connection and engagement. This mutual observation blurs the lines between observer and participant, encouraging active involvement and continuous imagination, growing in sync with the city.

MADs design City of Time offers a fusion of natural elements and human creativity. Here, undulating sand piles shaped by human hands form organic sculptures, while rough linen dances in the breeze to captivate observers’ imagination. This unique environment seamlessly integrates nature, space, art, and human behavior, each scene capturing an irreplaceable moment in time. Artists and audiences alike are invited to explore and create in this present, collaborative space, uniting in the creation of a seaside utopia that transcends traditional artistic boundaries.

Co-initiated by Liu Chang, Zhu Sha, Zheng Jing, and Chen Minghao, "Migratory Bird 300" takes place at the 2024 Aranya Theatre Festival from June 18th to June 30th. It aims to foster a dialogue across time and space, serving as a platform for connection and a space for shaping contemporary spiritual life.

Architect: Ma Yansong/MAD Architects
Location: Aranya, China
Year: 2024
Principal Partners: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Design Team: Miao Si, Huang Juntao, Zhang Zhonglin
Collaborators: Aranya Theater Festival, Migratory Birds 300
Aranya Theater Festival Shooting Team: Zaiye Studio (Wang Zhen, Wang Yong, Hou Xuefei, Zhao Weiyi, Hu Yiqian), Zhu Shi, Wang Zhe, Liu Jianhui, Yu Yang, Zhao Nan
Photograph: Aranya Theater Festival Shooting Team, Migratory Birds 300, DONG Image