In the exhibition Drift Along, artist Gai Qizheng invites us on a journey that intertwines personal history, local knowledge, and the universal symbolism of rafts as vehicles of migration, survival, and cultural memory. Through his multidisciplinary practice, Gai explores how rafts, as both functional objects and cultural artefacts, carry systems of knowledge and reveal personal, familial, and communal histories. In our initial conversation with the artist, he credited the work, Current of Contemporary Art, by the art group The Play—with its focus on aimless adventure—as the starting point for his inquiry into floating devices. His research into rafts ultimately spans and ties the three areas and different projects—through his work we are immersed into the knowledge systems of Chao Bai River, Zuo Tan, and Qingdao.  

Gai Qizheng’s initial inquiry into rafts began with his family’s migration history. Originating from Qingdao, the artist traced his great-grandfather’s journey—a route shaped by the Chuang Guandong migration, a mass movement of people from Northern China due to floods and droughts. His great-grandfather traveled from Qingdao to Vladivostok, then to Shanghai, and finally back to Qingdao. This exploration of familial roots led the artist to reflect on his own locality and the broader narratives of migration and settlement. Through his residency and exhibition Temporary Raft Workshop, understanding of rafts as a medium was approached. Further, through exposure to the oral histories and collaborations with locals like villager Zhi Ge and Grandma Guo Jinhao, the artist uncovered how the community’s identity was tied not to their current settlement but to their ancestral origins. Every year, they would return to their ancestral halls to pray and share meals, embodying a nomadic identity rooted in the water’s fluidity.

Since his study years - the artist is rooted in Beijing, the location of his recent work Drift based on the Chao Bai River. The act of crossing this river signifies the transition from Hebei to Beijing and as the artist states, to enter the city - there is a checkpoint but water routes weaken the system and eliminate the artificial borders. The notions of settlement, migration and exploration serve as the guiding principles of his three projects, where the artist approaches the construction of rafts through the lens of heritage. This raises the question of what systems of knowledge does an object carry, and what personal, family and communal histories does it reveal? Yet, for Gai Qizheng, rafts are far more —they are symbols of adaptability, resilience, and the transmission of local knowledge.

The Oxford Dictionary defines a raft as "a flat structure made of pieces of wood tied together and used as a boat or floating platform," or "a small inflatable boat made of rubber or plastic." Regardless of material or structure, rafts have historically symbolized migration, survival, adaptability, resilience, journey, and ultimately, evolution—of technology, society, and human ingenuity.

In the exhibition Drift Along, we trace the evolution and significance of rafts as vital vehicles for transmitting local knowledge. Through his work, artist Gai Qizheng invites us on a journey that intertwines his family’s migration and personal research into history with the medium of rafts. For example, the artist adapted traditional raft-making techniques directly from local fishing communities, such as villager Zhi Ge, who shared his expertise and assisted in constructing the floating device. Through his residency in Zuo Tan and collaboration with his project partner and translator Bao Yi, he found oral history records of Zuo Tan fishermen, which traced the clan’s origins (likely in the Jinli area of Zhaoqing). Through the help of Bao Yi,  the artist also met Grandma Guo Jinhao, from Dashi Turtle Seafood Restaurant, and she could name almost everyone in the fishing village. These valuable exchanges vitally assisted Gai Qizheng in creation of simple family trees - ultimately enabling the artist to trace the migration  from Jinli all the way to Zuotan, Lihai, Shachong, Gulang, and Leliu via the Xijiang River, with Jinli as their ancestral origin - thus creating elaborate migration paths. Through communication with Uncle Jie (who lives on a houseboat) the artist gained exposure to new techniques such as the process of making a houseboat- from the structure of the frame to the floating materials under the raft. This led the artist to further question how different communities approach the floating structure. 

Rafts were used already in prehistoric cultures as support platforms or means of transport over water bodies. The concept of rafts developed in different regions independently from each other.  Depending on the different regions, the type of buoyant materials which were used to build these rafts, was dependent on the availability: Bamboo was typically used in Asia while balsa wood was used in South America along the Ecuadorian and Chilean coast and papyrus was used to build rafts and boats in ancient Egypt.

Due to the perishable nature of the building materials little knowledge on raft building in prehistoric times has been preserved. From early Spanish and Portuguese accounts we know that oceangoing rafts were used in the pre-Columbian time in the Andes region. Reports on floats and pontoons in the Chilean sea give us more information on the materials used. To ensure tight and waterproof sealing lion skins were used and the rafts were caulked using “almagre”, a mixture of blood, hair and mud. Later, almagre was replaced by ground bricks, iron oxide, oil and grease. In Asia, bamboo rafts were built by lashing together bamboo stakes using lianas. Rafts in the North American region became important with the rise of the timber industry. Contrary to the rafts used in South America and Asia, rafts in North America were used to transport wood via waterways and the building material was at the same time the transport good.

From the mid-18th century on, first rafts made of rubber appeared in North America for recreational activities. With the rise of synthetic materials in shipbuilding, knowledge about traditional raft building slowly disappeared. Rafts for recreational activities became easily available and the traditional use as means of transport became less important. During the second world war, these activities died down but experienced a revival shortly after the war. This time coincides with the rising importance of the plastics industry, providing new and cheap materials for rafts, such as nylons or rubbers. Rafting has remained since then as a recreational activity, while the traditional usage ceased. 

As Gai Qizheng constructed his own rafts, he drew direct lessons from nature, exposing how landscapes and natural environments dictate the design and construction of these floating devices. The project builds upon the DIY principles and invites the audience to migrate from observers to active participants via workshops. This ongoing conversation between personal history, local knowledge, and the impact of natural forces are the basis of the artist’s exploration of rafts as both functional objects and vessels of cultural and ancestral memory. Yet, what sets this research apart is the artist’s desire to share the knowledge - and we want to leave the audience with a main question of how can we learn from nature, our ancestors and what role will landscape have in dictating our routes of movements? 

*curated by Johannes Kreutzer and Lucija Šutej