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VIRGINIA LUI


Art —
  1. OBI
  2. SECURIWAS?
  3. Deterrent Designs
  4. Dear Spartacus
  5. War on Cash
  6. Would you like to complain?
  7. Social Design Team


Applied Urbanism — 
  1. Invisible Social Dimensions
  2. 1st Urban Playground
  3. Das andere Möbel
  4. Hassling Hasselaar
  5. Still Only Human  
  7. Metabolism
  8. MG POLIS
  9. Eco Label
  10. Museum of Pacific Arts


Research — 
  1. Publications


Info —
  1. Virginia Lui is an artist, social designer and researcher. She holds an MA in Social Design and BA in Architecture. Lui’s works pivots between design – mostly for social innovation – public art and theory. She works in site-based performance, text, photography and drawing with the emphasis on artistic research. Much of her work can be categorised as Socially-engaged Art.
  2. Contact
Mark

6. 有心


The project is an investigation into secondhand bookstores in the city of Shenzhen as symptomatic of the setbacks that have arisen from high-speed urbanism and top-down urban renewal strategies, in addition to other sub-forces such as digitisation and consumption. 

The disappearance of these quotidian family-owned businesses reflects the lack of governmental efforts to preserve the “cityness” – where productive intersections and activities happen – in dilapidating areas as top-down strategies with limited awareness of its implications towards gentrification are being applied. Once a bustling street filled with privately owned stores selling a whole variety of affordable everyday items, now suffers from vacancy and demolition.

Second-hand bookstores reflect the vitality, richness and sustainable qualities of urban villages while providing affordable resources for learning and a venue for social exchange. Personal conversations with locals and stakeholders from the book industry reveal that there is a lack of appreciation and understanding towards the social function of second-hand books/bookstores.

You Xin is a performance, gesture and social action that aims to restore appreciation and value towards second-hand books and envision future neighbourhood venues as multifunctional spaces where informal learning and exchange takes place.


Team
Virginia Lui, Aki Lee

有心

is a common Chinese expression and the project’s title that describes the motivation for the project. It literally translates to “you have a heart” which is likened to “you are very thoughtful”. It is used in contexts when people show care towards other people, to one's neighbourhood, urban environment or nature.