The Big Dig
“If you keep digging, you’ll dig all the way to China“
The German landscape architecture studio Topotek 1 was commissioned in 2010 to create an installation for the Xi’An International Horticultural Exposition in China. Based on the widely told children's tale about digging all the way to China, the studio came up with the idea to create an “infinite” hole in the ground, offering a visual and auditory journey to remote places on the planet. The Big Dig was designed by Martin Cano, one of the studio's main creators, who considers the earth as a model and thus pulls visitors back into childhood fantasies in which one can travel to the other side of the world through a mysterious hole.
The base of the ten-meter-wide hole is a structure with a concrete shell, which, like the surrounding area, is carefully covered with artificial grass. It is surrounded by a low fence made of thin glass. This prevents visitors from walking right to the edge of the abyss, heightening their curiosity and the imagination associated with it. Existing trees around the installation were preserved, making the entire space appear seemingly untouched. To further evoke the idea of a pipe through which distant places on the planet can be visited, there is a simulated audio connection with Argentina, Sweden, Germany, and the USA. Visitors can thus hear the sounds of cows from the Argentine pampas, the Stockholm harbor, a Berlin square, or New Yorkers rushing to the subway from the hole.
Through this hole, the world can communicate with China and China with the world. Visitors are almost magnetically drawn to it by curiosity to peek inside and listen to a message from its other end. Occasionally, it also compels them to send their voice out into the world, wanting to shout inside. This project emphasizes China's current specific role as a kind of amplifier of cultural trends from all over the world. It has received top awards in competitions in Wolfsburg, Tiergarten, and Eberswalde.
The German landscape architecture studio Topotek 1 was commissioned in 2010 to create an installation for the Xi’An International Horticultural Exposition in China. Based on the widely told children's tale about digging all the way to China, the studio came up with the idea to create an “infinite” hole in the ground, offering a visual and auditory journey to remote places on the planet. The Big Dig was designed by Martin Cano, one of the studio's main creators, who considers the earth as a model and thus pulls visitors back into childhood fantasies in which one can travel to the other side of the world through a mysterious hole.
The base of the ten-meter-wide hole is a structure with a concrete shell, which, like the surrounding area, is carefully covered with artificial grass. It is surrounded by a low fence made of thin glass. This prevents visitors from walking right to the edge of the abyss, heightening their curiosity and the imagination associated with it. Existing trees around the installation were preserved, making the entire space appear seemingly untouched. To further evoke the idea of a pipe through which distant places on the planet can be visited, there is a simulated audio connection with Argentina, Sweden, Germany, and the USA. Visitors can thus hear the sounds of cows from the Argentine pampas, the Stockholm harbor, a Berlin square, or New Yorkers rushing to the subway from the hole.
Through this hole, the world can communicate with China and China with the world. Visitors are almost magnetically drawn to it by curiosity to peek inside and listen to a message from its other end. Occasionally, it also compels them to send their voice out into the world, wanting to shout inside. This project emphasizes China's current specific role as a kind of amplifier of cultural trends from all over the world. It has received top awards in competitions in Wolfsburg, Tiergarten, and Eberswalde.
translation: 4th-dim / Klára Stachová, Andrea Honejsková, Jakub Hepp
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