Shifting Ground

Shifting Ground is an interactive field map and installation about Chongming Dongtan Wetland, exploring how a landscape presented as natural is continually produced through land reclamation, ecological restoration, conservation management, and tourism.

Project Video

Abstract

My grandfather helped build Chongming Island. He was part of the state-organized reclamation projects that turned Yangtze River mudflats into solid ground, more than doubling the island's size since 1949. Today, that same land is an 'International Wetland City’, a global symbol of ecological harmony. Shifting Ground is an interactive archive that begins from this contradiction: the land now protected as nature was made and designed. The work asks: what gets erased when a landscape gets called nature?  Shifting Ground traces Dongtan Wetland on Chongming’s eastern tip through three modes of human involvement: Making Land, Correcting Nature, and Curating Life. This framework follows the evolution of the landscape as tidal mudflats became fields, fields became wetland, and wetland became a conservation image.   The work uses Unity to build a layered digital map. It integrates field recordings, archival research, and site-based footage. By hovering over and clicking different locations, visitors encounter short video fragments, environmental observations, and traces of infrastructure embedded in the landscape. Outside the screen, the map continues into the exhibition space. Reeds, soil, bamboo, and found materials bring parts of the island into the room.

Photos