On the afternoon of January 16, 2026, Duke Kunshan University hosted an artist talk and exhibition event centered on Memories of Water, an ongoing research-based project by AH visiting lecturer Dingyi Xu. The event brought together students, faculty, and staff from across the DKU community for a documentary film screening, followed with artist talk and open discussion with the audience.
The exhibition space was transformed into a quiet, immersive environment. Wrapped in black fabric on all sides, the gallery was divided into three interconnected sections, creating a sanctuary-like atmosphere that encouraged slow movement and focused viewing. Water served as both a conceptual and emotional entry point, guiding visitors through space and inviting reflection on memory, lost, and environmental change.
The exhibition brings together moving image, printed matter, found objects, and archival materials to construct a layered narrative around water infrastructure and intergenerational memory around water conservancy projects from 1950s in Wuhan, Hubei.
The event began with a reception, followed by a documentary film screening that introduced the reservoir site as it exists today, now functioning as both infrastructure and tourist destination. The artist talk followed, during which Xu shared the project’s origins in impulse from her grandfather Xu Changqing’s memoir and reflected on returning to the reservoir after his passing in 2021. She spoke about how the project evolved from a family archive into a broader investigation of how water systems continue to shape landscapes, livelihoods, and memory across generations.
Following the talk, the artist engaged in a Q&A session with the audience. Visitors shared personal reflections on water, hometowns, and family histories, many of which echoed themes present in the exhibition. Since the exhibition opened, the guestbook has collected a wide range of warm written responses, including memories of rivers and reservoirs, thoughts on migration and home, and emotional reactions prompted by the works.
Through its immersive spatial design and research-driven approach, Memories of Water offers a space for quiet reflection and exchange. Supported by a CSCC research grant, the project continues to develop through site-based research and oral history work in the local communities surrounding the reservoir. By foregrounding personal memory within the material and historical life of water infrastructure, the exhibition reflects an ongoing process rather than a completed narrative, one that follows how places change, and how memories, like water, remain in motion.
Report: Dingyi Xu
Photography: Junyi Yu
