Panel Discussion: Brilliant City

Presented as part of the 2006 Brighton Photo Biennial, the panel discussion surrounding Undercurrent examined the relationship between rapid urbanisation, photography and architectural modernity. Chaired by curator Keith Whittle, with project producer Keri Elmsly, the event brought together London-based audiovisual collective D-Fuse, including founder Mike Faulkner and audio director Matthias Kispert, alongside Beijing-based artist duo 8gg. The discussion explored the contrasting urban landscapes of China and the United Kingdom, addressing the social, cultural and environmental consequences of urban transformation and the role of digital technologies in reshaping architectural representation.

Developed over two years through artist residencies in Chongqing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, London and Sunderland, Undercurrent built upon an earlier work, Brilliant City, named after the vast residential development Zhongyuan Liangwan Cheng in Shanghai’s Putuo District. Constructed between 1999 and 2006 on the site of the former Liangwan Yizhai neighbourhood, Brilliant City transformed an established low-rise community into an extensive landscape of high-rise residential towers. The development exemplifies Shanghai’s accelerated modernisation, revealing tensions between architectural progress, large-scale urban regeneration and the displacement of existing communities. Conceived as an immersive, multi-screen installation, Undercurrent examines these transformations through moving images, panoramic photography, field recordings and electronic sound. Its panoramic works, digitally assembled from more than 48 photographs using early software such as Realviz Stitcher, extend architectural representation beyond the conventional photographic frame. Together, these techniques explore the spatial and sensory dimensions of contemporary urbanisation, capturing the relationship between monumental development and the rhythms of everyday life.

Central to the discussion was the contrast between Britain’s post-industrial landscapes of economic restructuring and regeneration and China’s accelerated metropolitan expansion. Against the changing skylines of Shanghai and Chongqing, *Undercurrent* presents the city not as a static architectural composition but as a dynamic environment shaped by migration, global capital and infrastructure development. Brilliant City provides a particularly striking example of this transformation, its monumental scale and repetitive architectural forms embodying both the ambitions and contradictions of China’s emerging urban modernity. Through this juxtaposition, Undercurrent challenges Western-centred narratives of modernisation, positioning the contemporary city as a contested social, cultural and spatial condition rather than simply an expression of progress.