In Cantonese, “Maai Deoi” refers to people gathering together to participate in something, often with a sense of spontaneity and interaction. In the context of artistic practice, it symbolizes a free, open, and non-centralized mode of collaboration. The sixth edition of the Urban Dictionary exhibition adopts “Maai Deoi” as its theme, presenting a sample observation of four Guangzhou-based young art collectives. Their practices reveal dynamic processes of formation, aggregation, dispersal, and reorganization. Most of these groups have roots in the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, existing in a liminal state between institutional structures and self-initiated actions—marked by flexibility but also inherent uncertainty.
For the visual design, the logic of gathering and dispersing is translated into symbolic language. The exclamation mark is chosen as the core motif—both as a visualized slogan and as the initial signal that calls consciousness to converge. In the main visual, a single exclamation mark evolves into diverse, colorful variations, representing the convergence of different groups and shared intentions. Through dynamic arrangements and recombinations, the exclamation marks continuously manifest cycles of aggregation, dispersal, and reconfiguration, forming a decentralized and open visual system.
This symbolic expression responds to Guangzhou’s local context while reflecting the generative logic of collaborative art, making the exhibition’s visual identity a vivid annotation of the cultural phenomenon of “Maai Deoi.”
