河流、杂草、混凝土
River, Weeds, Concret
（2024）


《河流、杂草、混凝土》是我们长期以来对于水与水利研究的阶段性产出。

带着“如何感知一条河流？”这个困惑出发，我们沿着附近的河流行走、观察、记录。在城市里，河流的存在是断裂的。不断被马路截断， 被沿路的小区、学校私有，在逼仄的空间里，我们意识到河流的处境。

混凝土是最常见的河道材质，它塑造河流的形状，截弯取直来满足城市空间利用的需求。河水的方向和势能被这样笔直的河道所改变，与此同时上游的混凝土大坝与水闸进一步控制了水的流量。今天的河流是人类改造后的产物。

在混凝土之上我们总是观察到不请自来的杂草。我们着重关注这些人类规划之外的存在，它们挑战了人造基础建设坚固性的错觉，也是自然作为能动性主体的展现。

我们把杂草作为感知河流的媒介，重新理解人、基础建设与自然的关系。我们用点与线作为叙述语言来记录这些走河的观察。以填涂卡的方式来标注河堤上的杂草分布：不同的河段有不同的杂草生态；以简单的线条来记录杂草的姿态：这也是风与水的形态。

这本zine是我们逐渐认识城市生态，和河流杂草变得熟悉亲密的记录，也是一本行走河流的指南，一次好玩的填涂连线游戏。我们想邀请读者在打开这本zine的时候再拿起笔走出门，观察、勾画、记录附近一条小河的杂草，感知河流的形态与状态，在其中创造与城市生态的连接。

尺寸：140*210
装订：蝴蝶钉
语言：中英双语


"Rivers, Weeds, Concrete" is part of our ongoing research into water and hydraulic systems. With the question "How do we perceive' a river?" in mind, we started to walk along nearby rivers—observing, recording, and reflecting.

In urban spaces, the river's presence is fragmented. Constantly interrupted by roads, privatized by residential areas and schools. In these constrained spaces, we become aware of the river's predicament. 

Concrete is a common material shaping the river, straightening it to meet urban land-use demands. The direction and energy of the water are altered by the rigid riverbanks, and further upstream, concrete dams and sluices control the flow. Today’s rivers are the products of human modification.

In the concrete, we always find weeds growing through the cracks. These plants challenge the illusion of infrastructure’s permanence, revealing nature’s active agency.

We treat weeds as a medium for perceiving rivers, a way to understand the relationship between humans, infrastructure, and nature. Using dots and lines as our narrative language, we record these river walks. We mark the distribution of weeds along the riverbanks through fill-in-the-blank cards, noting that different sections host distinct ecosystems. Simple lines capture the posture of the weeds—shaped by the wind and water currents.

This zine documents our evolving understanding of urban ecology and our growing familiarity with rivers and weeds. It also serves as an observation guide to urban rivers, a playful game, inviting readers to pick up a pen, go outside, observe a local river’s weeds, and create their own connections with urban ecology.


Size: 140 x 210 mm
Binding: Loop Stitch 
Language: Bilingual (Chinese & English)





 

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