Lu Hao, a young artist born in 1969 and now based in Beijing, created two 50-metre long horizontal scrolls, 'Recording 2005 Chang'An Street' and 'Recording 2006 Chang'An Street', which show views of the north and south sides of the avenue in Beijing. The works were shown at documenta 12 in Kassel in 2007. From 2010 to 2011 Lu Hao worked on their Berlin pendant: the 'Berlin Scrolls', which run to 21 metres in length and depict the north and south side of Karl-Marx-Allee.

The scrolls have been executed in ink with a pale watercolour wash on silk using the technique of jiehua or 'boundary painting', whereby architectural forms are accurately depicted with the aid of a ruler. In this exhibition, the Beijing and Berlin scrolls are presented for the first time together and in their entire length, totalling 70 metres in all. The display allows visitors to take a (virtual) stroll along the two important main thoroughfares in the cities of Beijing and Berlin. The scrolls are a reflection of the global interconnectedness of art, (communist-era) architecture and modern history, and document the state of urban development along the two avenues, as seen at the time the paintings were created.

An exhibition presented as part of the year of Chinese culture in Germany. With generous support from the Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai, the Sigg Collection, Switzerland and ALEXANDER OCHS GALLERIES BERLIN | BEIJING