In Hangzhou, a city defined by water and rhythm, the monumental crochet installation Distance unfolds like a constellation suspended above a dark, reflective surface. Created by Choi + Shine Architects for the Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art at the Zhejiang Art Museum, the work transforms the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac into an immersive environment shaped by collective labor, cultural memory, and spatial perception.

Produced with the help of 125 local volunteers, Distance exemplifies Choi + Shine’s long-standing commitment to collaborative making, where craft becomes both a material practice and a social act.

Water, Reflection, and Cultural Navigation

Hangzhou’s geography is inseparable from its identity. Situated in the Yangtze River Delta, bordered by waterways, and marked by the dramatic tidal bore of the Qiantang River, the city carries a deep awareness of cyclical forces. Choi + Shine draw directly from this context. Suspended above a surface that mimics still, dark water, the crocheted forms appear to float, echoing reflections, currents, and the passage of time.

For the artists, the zodiac functions as a symbolic compass. Rooted in ancient cosmology, it continues to guide how individuals understand identity, fate, and relational balance. Rather than presenting the zodiac as folklore, Distance treats it as a living system, one that adapts and remains relevant amid social change.

Fragmentation as Form

Each zodiac animal is present, yet none appears in full. Choi isolates defining elements—an approach that resists literal illustration in favor of abstraction and suggestion. The ox becomes a slender, horn-like tube; the rooster emerges through a radiating, fan-shaped plume. These partial forms demand attentive looking, encouraging viewers to assemble meaning through memory and association.

This strategy aligns with Choi + Shine’s architectural sensibility. Jin Choi designs the intricate crocheted motifs, while Thomas Shine focuses on structural integrity, ensuring that the lace-like sculptures retain both delicacy and spatial strength. The result is an installation that feels simultaneously fragile and monumental.

A Circle That Refuses Fixity

Structured as a circular composition, Distance shifts continuously depending on where the viewer stands. From one angle, the zodiac elements appear ordered; from another, they dissolve into unexpected relationships. Visual legibility gives way to ambiguity, mirroring the social dynamics the artists seek to explore.

This instability is deliberate. As Choi + Shine describe, the work emphasizes the power of positioning—how meaning changes depending on proximity, perspective, and relational context. The installation becomes an allegory for community itself: no single viewpoint dominates, and connection is always in flux.

Crochet as Collective Knowledge

The making of Distance is as significant as its final form. Choi + Shine’s practice consistently relies on local participation, transforming exhibitions into sites of shared learning. In Hangzhou, volunteers arrived with varying levels of experience, many encountering crochet for the first time.

Workshops became spaces of exchange rather than instruction. Beginners and experienced makers worked side by side, troubleshooting patterns and sharing techniques. As volunteer Wu Qin noted, collaboration replaced hierarchy, turning the process into a living demonstration of mutual support.

This approach challenges the notion of authorship in contemporary art. While the conceptual framework belongs to Choi + Shine, the physical labor carries the imprint of many hands, each stitch embedding time, care, and human presence into the work.

Fiber Art as Social Architecture

Distance situates fiber art firmly within contemporary discourse, expanding crochet beyond domestic associations into the realm of architectural scale and cultural inquiry. The installation does not merely depict the zodiac; it activates it, allowing tradition to circulate through collective action and spatial experience.

Hovering above its reflective ground, the work suggests a suspended moment—between past and future, individual and collective, form and meaning. In Hangzhou, Choi + Shine offer more than a sculptural spectacle. They propose a model of art as shared navigation, where cultural symbols, like stitches, gain strength through connection.