天马行空 Tian Mu Xing Kong
It is a community of Chinese families in Madrid that has been formed through intercultural, artistic, and recreational mediation activities in collaboration with various institutions since 2019.
It is a project that generates a dialogue focused on family relationships and emotional ties.
天马行空 (Tiān Mǎ Xíng Kōng) It's a Chinese idiom meaning "a celestial horse flying through the sky." It's a metaphor for boundless imagination and spontaneous creativity, conveying the courage to break imposed rules and create from alternative perspectives. More than 200 Chinese families have passed through it, and it continues to grow and spread through various cultural institutions.
In the first edition in the Conde Duque Center of Madrid (2019-2021), invited by Christian Fernández Mirón from the mediation program, we organized and presented it collectively together with other natural leaders from the neighborhood (daughters and mothers of Chinese origin) and their collaborators, Shishi Zhu, Haifen Ye and Winnie He. We carried out workshops, community actions and meetings with Chinese families. In the second edition, we expanded our collaboration with mothers Yuran and Weiwei (who had participated in the previous edition) and artists such as Emily Sun, Javier Abad and Ángeles Ruiz de Velasco (play installations). We strengthened the core of the project (family relationships and emotional ties) and encouraged autonomy. from within, understanding it as a co-learning of what and how it is to be a young woman, a mother and a daughter of Chinese origin in Madrid.
In the third and fourth editions we collaborated with the Reina Sofía National Art Center Museum (2022-2025), together with Emily Sun and the driving force of mothers (Yuran, Weiwei and Lifang), to jointly design the content and guidelines for each session. Starting from Savia mapsWe generated a dialogue focused on family relationships and emotional ties so that Chinese families could come to the museum to participate in this series based on sensory and playful activities for children in dialogue with the collection.
I am the project director and wish to carry out an artistic and educational activity with Chinese families. This initiative arose from a conversation with Haifen, a Chinese mother of two children born in Spain, who has lived in the country for almost 20 years. She and her husband own a grocery store in the Tribunal neighborhood of Madrid. I met Haifen in 2018 when I was still working as a mediator and interpreter for the Madrid City Council's IntegraCentro project. During a conversation with her, she expressed her great need and desire to spend more time with her children, as well as the difficulties and lack of resources she was experiencing. Listening to her wishes, I felt as if a seed had been planted in me, sparking an interest in carrying out a project with Chinese families in Madrid in institutional spaces. This conversation was also the starting point for Haifen to join as a collaborator.
I believe this project can address many of the emotional needs of Chinese families, both parents and children. Our goal is to create a space where bonds can be strengthened outside of their everyday lives. Contemporary art and play will be the vehicles for forging these bonds.
Gallery
Posters
TMXK Trailer in 2020-2021
Project Director: Xirou Xiao. Video and Editing: Laura C. Vela.
TMXK documentary video in 2020-2021
Project Director: Xirou Xiao. Contributors: Shishi Zhu, Haifen Ye, Winnie He. Video and editing: Shishi Zhu. Subtitles: Shishi Zhu, Christian Fernández Mirón, Xirou Xiao. Responsible for the Mediation program: Christian Fernández Mirón.