Urban Carpets by Instant Hutong

urban carpets - 8 pieces 180x180 cm - embroidery on canvas

This serie of 8 carpets by Instant Hutong are representing different maps of hutong areas in Beijing with a size of approximately one square kilometre and a population of 30000. Each of them has been isolated and presented as autonomous town within the big city. They are embroidered by hand with the same technique of the propaganda slogans on large fabrics used by the communist party during the seventies. The carpets have been filled with white wire wool insertions.



All along year 2009 the urban carpets will be shown to the Hutong dwellers inside the courtyards and on the public lanes in order to share the project with people and bring it back to the city districts it was inspired from.





The people behind Instant Hutong are the Italian artists Marcella Campa and Stefano Avesani. They are focusing on the urban growth of Chinese cities and their transformation since 2003. In June 2005 they won the international Archiprix prize in Glasgow with a project for the Hutongs in Beijing. In October 2005 they moved to China and started working on the Instant Hutong art project and on a parallel research on contemporary Chinese urban habitat. After studying and working in China and Europe, they established their own architectural practice in Beijing.

(photos and text by Instant Hutong and their portfolio on Behance Network)