Hallstatt, China
Funded by the Duveen Travel Scholarship we went to China in late 2012 to research the phenomenon of ‘copy towns’, iconic European towns and buildings which are being replicated in China. Our focus is on Hallstatt, a UNESCO-protected Austrian town recently copied complete with artificial lake and imported local doves in the Guangdong Province, but we also went to document Thames Town near Shanghai, World Parks with replicas from around the World, an abandoned Theme Park, the Dafen Oil Painting Village, Ai Weiwei's Beijing home and several buildings inspired by it, and many 'ghost towns' on the way. This blog is to share some images and film footage from our trip as well as articles and other relevant findings. Throughout 2013 we have documented the original counterparts of these towns in Europe. We are currently producing works about our experiences including a film. To keep updated follow @AckerThompson on Twitter.
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Faking Translation in Hallstatt: A Visit to Hallstatt Revisited I Academic paper by Susan Ingram and Markus Reisenleitner (York University) exploring Hallstatt, China, also featuring several quotes by us
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The Fabra i Coats Art Factory explores the phenomenon of copied cities | Barcelona Cultura In contemporary society, notions such as imitation and repetition can also be applied to urban planning. According to exhibition curator Martí Peran, the combination of ideological neo-liberalism and world economy has led to the disappearance of genuine landscapes – a concept that underlies the Fabra i Coats presentation entitled After Landscape. -
Why China loves to build copycat towns A BBC article that features Thames Town, Hallstatt See and Bianca Bosker.
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Phil Thompson on China's Copy Towns Hallstatt, Austria, is in China. So is the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer, and a soon-to-be-completed Manhattan. They are copy towns. -
Capturing the Chinese Copy Town Trend In China, you can now visit the Eiffel Tower, grab fish and chips in an old English town, and even see the Manhattan skyline, all in replica form. The Chinese appetite for “copy towns” — developmen…An interview that we did with Hyperallergic about our research.
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Short clip of our film footage from Hallstatt See, Guangdong Province, China. © 2012 Sebastian Acker & Phil Thompson
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The Beijing sunrise story
This image has been published on most major media outlets last week suggesting Beijing residents gather to watch sunrises on giant screens during heavily polluted air. According to Techinasia the virtual sunrise is actually a rather short sequence in a tourism ad. Apart from the obvious issue of poor journalism, Gwynn Guilford points towards the western hunger for stories about China as ‘dystopian hellscape’. (read below)
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Article about Anting, Shanghai (German)
Raising concerns about the Chinese property bubble and attempts to make ghost towns work. Anting is part of the same development scheme as Thames Town which we visited in late 2012.
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Filming in European locations completed
We have completed our research and filming trips to the original places in Europe including Paris, Bristol, Dorset and Hallstatt, Austria and are currently editing our film.
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Wonderland is currently being demolished, according to Berliner Zeitung.
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Currently doing an AMA on Reddit http://redd.it/1dq8ih
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Buckingham Palace, Window of the World, Shenzhen. Photograph, 2012.
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View of lake, Hallstatt See, Guangdong Province, China. Photograph, 2012.
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3D model of Hallstatt monument. Digital image. © 2012 Sebastian Acker & Phil Thompson