‘Elemental’, a video by Varvara Shavrova commissioned by SGP Architects for greenPix Media Wall, Beijing Varvara Shavrova’s new video commission for greenPix Media Wall juxtaposes the ‘elemental’ with the ‘urban’. The video imagery combines the four Western and the five Chinese Elements: Water, Fire, Air, Earth, Wood, and Metal. Abstracted patterns and colours glide, shift, and merge, creating entrancing visual effects on the giant media wall ‘canvas’, as if nature is claiming back the urban city environment. By placing the natural imagery into the man-made environment, and by overlaying the organic textures and forms with the artificial ones, Shavrova draws our attention to the apparent proximity of nature and the elements to urban situations. Beautiful or mystical, threatening or calming, the ‘elemental’ side of life is never too far from the urban one.