Why See China in 3D? (01.12.2025)

Spectacle Mapping and the Digital Countryside Campaign

We are delighted to welcome the lecture by Yi Gu on the topic »Why See China in 3D?«. Yi Gu is Associate Professor of Art History at the University of Toronto, specializing in modern and contemporary art and visual culture in Asia – especially China. Launched in 2019, the Digital Countryside initiative aims to achieve »Agriculture 4.0,« integrating big data, AI, and smart technologies to optimize farming and embed visualizations in nearly every aspect of rural governance. During the Mao era, rural reforms were fueled by a similar zeal for statistics, with analog charts, diagrams, and maps covering village walls and guiding farming practices. While the tools have shifted from paper charts to networked simulations, both periods reveal striking continuities: state-driven research campaigns, rapid translation of scientific experiments into field applications, mass public participation, and sweeping infrastructural change.