(In)Forming Urban Agency: More-than-Textural Engagements from Geographic Fieldwork
Explore creative research exploring informal urban life across Asia through photography, film, sculpture, drawing and installation, showcasing innovative practice-based doctoral research.
(In)Forming Urban Agency: More-than-Textural Engagements from Geographic Fieldwork
05 Aug 2026 - 14 Aug 2026
Private View | Wednesday 5 August, 5pm
Join us for the exhibition's opening event and meet the researchers behind the work. Free to attend, with no advance booking required.
Two UCL Geography PhD researchers, Hanxi Wang and Richard Müller, present an exhibition exploring informal, unofficial and unconventional spatial practices across Asian cities.
Drawing together photography, film, sculpture, installation, mapping and drawing, the exhibition showcases creative outputs developed through practice-based geographic fieldwork. Supported by the UCL Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences (SHS) Collaborative Fund, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the SHS Festival of Research and the Slade School of Fine Art, it demonstrates how creative methods can generate new ways of understanding urban environments.
Through different artistic approaches, the exhibition examines how everyday spaces, often overlooked or existing beyond formal planning and governance, reveal alternative ways of living, working and shaping the city.
Explore the research
Discover the two research projects featured in the exhibition. Each offers a different perspective on informal urban life, using creative practice to explore how people shape, experience and reimagine cities across Asia.
Hanxi Wang's work documents the emergence of informal agrarian landscapes within the rapidly urbanised environments of Guangzhou and Wuhan.
Using photography, mapping drawings and 3D scanning, the project records spaces that have developed without formal organisation, institutional support or permission. These unexpected landscapes reveal how people continue to reshape cities through everyday practices.
Richard Müller's research explores unofficial urban spaces in Chennai, India, and Hsinchu, Taiwan.
Through film, photography and installation, the work examines the spaces created by interruptions in urban form, governance and time. These moments become opportunities for alternative practices that challenge conventional understandings of the city.
Supported by
This exhibition has been supported by:
- SHS Collaborative Fund
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- SHS Festival of Research
- Slade School of Fine Art
Visit the exhibition
Join us at the Slade School of Fine Art to experience creative research from two UCL Geography doctoral researchers.
Visit the exhibitionGot questions? Get in touch.
Contact us if you have any questions about studying Geography at UCL.
Geography Admissions Team
Click to email. admissions.geog@ucl.ac.ukFurther information
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes