BoulderingArt

"Bǎi" is a research project based on interviews.

This book explores the lives of Chinese people in Europe, through one conversation with each of 15 participants, documenting their daily lives, work, and sense of identity. The main concept comes from the word “摆” (Bǎi). In Chinese, It symbolizes migration, transition, and instability, which run throughout the entire book.

"Bǎi" includes three interconnected parts. The preface, The Metaphor of the Apple, uses the apple as a symbol of the Chinese community. The dialogue section presents the interviewees’ experiences of migration and daily life. The final part “American Guide” was inspired by one interviewee. During the COVID-19 in 2022, he researched routes for leaving China and reaching the United States. He documented the real journeys and experiences of earlier Chinese immigrants who sneaked into the U.S. on foot. Using the form of the traditional Indian game Snakes and Ladders, we transformed his findings into a board game where the final destination is “the United States.”

Pong! is a non-fiction zine that revisits mother, grandmother, and rural upbringing from as a daughter's perspective.

Pong! focus on women's labor that is often overlooked, such as handicrafts, cooking, and housework—repetitive, slow, and unseen tasks that actually form the foundation of women's lives.

An important background element in the book is "gunpowder", which represent a generation’s labor working memories. The poster on the zine is also a Paper-popper, you can follow the manual on the poster to make a “firework” sound.

Nomadic Europe is a fiction that telling a story of Lin, she is a Chinese nomadic girl living in Europe. In the final stages of awaiting the results of her Dutch permanent residency application, she receives a call from her mother—her grandmother, far away on the grasslands, is seriously ill and wants to see her one last time. Returning home means potentially losing the residency status she has worked so hard for over the years, while staying means missing the chance to say goodbye to her loved ones.

In Europe, many people lead this nomadic life: moving between different cities, settling briefly in unfamiliar apartments, and then continuing their journey. The houses have changed hands many times, but some things have remained the same—narrow staircases, old window frames, and Rauhfaser walls with their grainy texture.

The book's cover and pages use Rauhfaser wallpaper to simulate the rough texture of walls, allowing readers to experience the surfaces of European rooms as if their fingers were gliding over a familiar yet unfamiliar wall. In a life of constant migration, the wall may be the only thing that remains consistently consistent.

Rauhfaser is a type of wallpaper made from pressed pulp and fine wood fibers, with a slightly rough, granular texture. This wallpaper is commonly found in student dormitories, ordinary residences, and even low-rent housing in Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria, becoming a typical spatial symbol.