Join us as Sponge Gourd Collective discusses their process in investigating urban transformation in contemporary China through their zine publication People's Square 人民广场 and shares work from their ongoing project, The Harmonious Commute 跳出北京看北京 investigating the high-speed rail in the Jing-Jin-Ji megaregion. This event is part of a seires profiling different Asian American makers and creatives. 

ABOUT 

Sponge Gourd Collective (丝瓜集团) is a loofah for the future, a squad of green goons, a slimy surprise. We investigate urban transformation in contemporary China to explore and unpack Chinese futurities. The collective was formed in 2016 with the publication of People's Square 人民广场, a zine series documenting sites of rapid urban development in Beijing, China. We are now working on The Harmonious Commute 跳出北京看北京, an ongoing project investigating the high-speed rail in the Jing-Jin-Ji megaregion. Sponge Gourd Collective consists of Beatrix Chu, Daphne Xu, and Diane Zhou. 

ABOUT DIANE & DAPHNE 
Diane Zhou is a visual artist based in New York. Her paintings, comics, and assemblages are about cute things, manufactured junk bearing the weight of human interaction, and her fragmented understanding of Chinese language. 

dianezhou.com 

Daphne Xu is a researcher, photographer and artist. She is currently working on her masters at MIT in urban planning.