Preview: SWFC Art

The second floor of the SWFC is a space that seems hostile to art. Security guards with dogs patrol outside, there are airlock-style doors, and the fluorescent-lit floors contain such supreme banalities as foodcourts, an ICBC, and a Family Mart. This month, art muscles in with works from 17 of Shanghai’s top galleries, a dedicated 800sqm space, and an anti-finance barter art sideshow called Shell Economics.

The exhibitions are being sponsored by the building’s managers, the Mori group (who also fund Tokyo’s Mori Art Museum), in celebration of the SWFC’s third birthday. Major galleries like ShanghART, Shanghai Gallery of Art, 18Gallery and m97 are participating, and each will show 3-4 pieces in a long, labyrinthine room. Works will include photos by JR, Zhou Wendou’s skateboard sculpture (pictured right) and a site specific video piece commissioned by OV Gallery.

Office 339’s Kenta Torimoto, who’s curating the show along with Vanguard Gallery’s Lise Li, says, ‘People don’t think of Pudong as a cultural space. But that gives us a chance to reach some people who wouldn’t usually seek out art.’

The Shell Economics works are especially well positioned to ambush passers by. They’ll be displayed in a space adjoining the Galleries show that’s right next to escalators office workers have to take when they leave the building. These works, created by young artists selected from the curators’ networks, aren’t for sale but you can bid for them by offering items you’re willing to exchange. You can also view the works and make offers on them on Weibo (swfcshanghai#贝壳经济#).

Exhibiting works that can’t be bought somewhere like the SWFC is a real glove to the face of finance.