project that unfolded in Bishan village in the countryside of Southern Anhui province, in Eastern China. The project was devised by the artist and intellectual Ou Ning, who in 2010 drafted a notebook entitled The Bishan Commune: How to Start Your Own Utopia (2014 [2010]). The utopia of the notebook was based in the ideas of Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin and the Chinese rural reconstruction advocate of the 1930s James Yen. In 2011 Ou Ning and his colleague Zuo Jing, initiated the Bishan Commune project in Bishan Village in Southern Anhui Province. From 2011 and to its forced closure in early 2016, the Bishan Commune attracted a range of artists, activists and other volunteers, who came and spent time in Bishan and organized art festival, film screenings, second hand shops, reading groups, archery research, performances, sharing sessions and so much more.

I have been given task of presenting some of the visual strategies of the Bishan Commune, and one of the first questions that come to mind is: How did the Bishan Commune present itself visually and why? And also: How did this visuality change along the way? The project existed for five years and had its daily routines in the village, it had a visual presence on social media platforms, it had strong international presence, it was exhibited worldwide and was aware of the importance of its visual statements.