A Poem for the Passing Scenery — Dongxing Canal
Dongxing Canal flows—an origin drawn through time, where a city first whispered itself into being. Water remembers what the land forgets, carrying the past in quiet currents, arriving again as something new. Here—light fractures across the surface, a trembling language of now. A drop of rain falls, a soft punctuation in the sentence of the day. Wind moves through winter leaves, turning branches into lines of verse—each flicker, each rustle, a stanza passing through the body. To walk along the canal is to read what cannot be held: a reflection, a ripple, a moment—already becoming memory. Look back, and the past gathers like shadow. Look ahead, and the future shimmers in distance. But here, in this fragile crossing, the present opens—clear, unrepeatable, alive. The scenery writes itself as we move, and we, unknowingly, write with it.
Using words as poetry, this project draws from the natural elements of Dongxing Canal and the exhibition—river, rain, light, and wind—to compose a landscape.
The shimmering reflections on the canal surface and the penetrating beams of the art installations form layers of visual rhythm. Falling raindrops become rhymes, shaping poetic lines within the scenery. A gust of wind becomes imagination itself, opening infinite possibilities as nature and perception intertwine.
“Writing poetry” is not only the theme of the exhibition, but also an act brought into reality. Poets are invited to create new works inspired by Dongxing Canal, while local schoolchildren collaborate in forming poetic installation pieces—presenting a new generation’s expression of poetry.
Through childlike handwriting traces, the work reveals sincerity and simplicity, composing a lyrical poem of the passing scenery.
Centered on poetic expression, the exhibition brings together art installations and nature, forging a close connection between people and their environment.
To read poetry is to read nature and art together.
