Shanghai part 1
Hello from Shanghai! Just arrived last night. Just before coming to Shanghai I went up to a friend's cabin in a small village by the Great Wall. It was so amazing an beautiful (and COLD)...pictures of that trip to come soon.
So anyway, I arrived in Shanghai yesterday late afternoon and went to hear a talk at Shanghai MoCA by Shanghai/New York artist Zhang Jianjun. Zhang worked at the Shanghai Museum of Art as a curator in the 80s and later moved to New York in 1989. Since the late 90s he has been working back and forth between NY and Shanghai. His talk brought a rare historical perspective to the arts scene in Shanghai and especially the development of the mega exhibition we now know as the Shanghai Biennial. What was most revealing about Zhang's talk was that it was actually in itself unique. Most often the narratives one hears about the development of contemporary or "avant-garde" art in China are often quite skewed towards Beijing (with the inclusion of Xiamen, Hangzhou and occasionally Guangzhou). Somehow, dialogue about Shanghai is usually not part of the mix. Zhang reasons that this is in part because artists were working individually instead of collectively like the Stars art group or Xiamen Dada gorup; and that, more importantly, Shanghai artists tended to steer away from political subjects, favoring abstraction or abstract forms of painting. This formulation is rather new to me, and thus, very intriguing and something I would like to have time to research more.
Today, I bopped around Shanghai, taking in the sights--walking down Huaihai Road, wandering in the French Concession, and Duolun Road. All of my previous trips to Shanghai have been 2-3 days long, either to see the biennial or for a conference, and I spend all of my time rushing to galleries/museums and rarely have time to see the historical spots. So I decided to visit-of all things-the site of the first CCP (Chinese Communist Party) meeting, the former home of Sun Yatsen and Duolun Road where writers Mao Dun, Ding Ling and Guo Moruo used to hang out (also contains the site of the Left-Wing Writers Society). The first was actually very interesting, filled with lots of history and memorabilia ranging from early publications and printed matter to a life size replica of the members of the meeting itself sitting around a meeting table. Sun Yatsen's residence was predictable and somewhat dull--trudging through rooms (wearing plastic booties over the shoes, of course) with a droning tour guide pointing out each photograph of Sun Yatsen and Soong Qingling and what year they were taken. Furniture, art, and personal effects were all safely sequestered behind plexiglas barriers so it is far from an interactive experience. The only remotely odd thing was the tour guide's introduction to his library and many bookshelves, citing his love of reading because when you looked closer to see the books all you could see was a photograph of the books glued to the glass shelves. Presumably the books have been removed and put into an archive but it just struck me as odd that they went so far as to take photos of each shelf and print them up on foamboard.
So tomorrow I will hit the Shanghai Biennial, the Shanghai Museum, the Duolun Museum and if there is time, Lu Xun's former residence. it will be a long day...
So anyway, I arrived in Shanghai yesterday late afternoon and went to hear a talk at Shanghai MoCA by Shanghai/New York artist Zhang Jianjun. Zhang worked at the Shanghai Museum of Art as a curator in the 80s and later moved to New York in 1989. Since the late 90s he has been working back and forth between NY and Shanghai. His talk brought a rare historical perspective to the arts scene in Shanghai and especially the development of the mega exhibition we now know as the Shanghai Biennial. What was most revealing about Zhang's talk was that it was actually in itself unique. Most often the narratives one hears about the development of contemporary or "avant-garde" art in China are often quite skewed towards Beijing (with the inclusion of Xiamen, Hangzhou and occasionally Guangzhou). Somehow, dialogue about Shanghai is usually not part of the mix. Zhang reasons that this is in part because artists were working individually instead of collectively like the Stars art group or Xiamen Dada gorup; and that, more importantly, Shanghai artists tended to steer away from political subjects, favoring abstraction or abstract forms of painting. This formulation is rather new to me, and thus, very intriguing and something I would like to have time to research more.
Today, I bopped around Shanghai, taking in the sights--walking down Huaihai Road, wandering in the French Concession, and Duolun Road. All of my previous trips to Shanghai have been 2-3 days long, either to see the biennial or for a conference, and I spend all of my time rushing to galleries/museums and rarely have time to see the historical spots. So I decided to visit-of all things-the site of the first CCP (Chinese Communist Party) meeting, the former home of Sun Yatsen and Duolun Road where writers Mao Dun, Ding Ling and Guo Moruo used to hang out (also contains the site of the Left-Wing Writers Society). The first was actually very interesting, filled with lots of history and memorabilia ranging from early publications and printed matter to a life size replica of the members of the meeting itself sitting around a meeting table. Sun Yatsen's residence was predictable and somewhat dull--trudging through rooms (wearing plastic booties over the shoes, of course) with a droning tour guide pointing out each photograph of Sun Yatsen and Soong Qingling and what year they were taken. Furniture, art, and personal effects were all safely sequestered behind plexiglas barriers so it is far from an interactive experience. The only remotely odd thing was the tour guide's introduction to his library and many bookshelves, citing his love of reading because when you looked closer to see the books all you could see was a photograph of the books glued to the glass shelves. Presumably the books have been removed and put into an archive but it just struck me as odd that they went so far as to take photos of each shelf and print them up on foamboard.
So tomorrow I will hit the Shanghai Biennial, the Shanghai Museum, the Duolun Museum and if there is time, Lu Xun's former residence. it will be a long day...
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