The best art exhibitions in Shanghai now

Add comment

Photograph: courtesy Long Museum West Bund

The weather is cold and polluted, but the art world is hot. This season's art scene is heavy in new digital media: Yuz Museum's got a show about making art in Hollywood studios (other than films); West Bund Museum brings some highlights of the Centre Pompidou New Media Collection and HOW Art Museum has launched a three-year project on the development of Chinese new media art from the last three decades.

Apart from that, Bob Dylan's Retrospectrum has been extended until March; a cool exhibition over at Columbia Circle uses all recycled materials and Long Museum's Altered Carbon takes an unexpected spin on classic masterpieces (spoiler alert, this one has lots of cyborgs).

Most museums close during CNY from Friday 24 until Tuesday 28, so do check before planning your trip this week.

Li Binyuan: A Solo Exhibition

HOW Art Museum presents a collection of Li Binyuan's action-based works from the past decade. Frequently compared to Francis Alÿs, whose works explore themes such as individual action and importance, the events in Li Binyuan’s photos usually take place at any time and often lead to no concrete results. Radical and ridiculous at times, Li invites viewers to reconsider our bodies and their boundaries.

HOW Art Museum , Lane 2277 Zuchongzhi Road Every day except Monday

in my head, in my eye…belonging…

Since 2013, the PSA has been showing a series of exhibitions in the theme 'Architecture & City'. Now, catch the first solo exhibition from one of France's most well-known and prolific architects, Jean Nouvel. At the exhibition, you can watch a three-and-a-half-hour film produced by Nouvel himself showcasing hundreds of his designs from across the globe, as well as six works of art based on his architecture.

Power Station of Art , 200 Huayuangang Lu Every day except Monday

In Production: Art and Studio System

There’s a lot of overlap between visual arts and cinematic production – artists on both sides of the fence can look to the other for inspiration. In this exhibition at Yuz, you’ll see 24 contemporary artists whose works critique, appropriate and engage with Hollywood and the film studio system. Expect backdrops, c-stands and sandbags, plus a film made by veteran animators from Walt Disney Studios, and prepare to walk into a superhero film set design.

Buy tickets

Peer to Peer

Originally exhibited at Open Eye Gallery in conjunction with St George’s Hall Liverpool, Peer to Peer asks 14 influential figures in the field of photography in China and the UK to nominate 14 artists whose works deal with a range of topics, from fluctuating attitudes towards Bitcoin to the rampant accumulation of plastics.

Shanghai Center of Photography , 2555 Longteng Dadao Every day except Monday

Altered Carbon 2020: Pang Maokun

Long Museum West Bund presents a solo exhibition of the Chongqing-based artist Pang Maokun. Coming from an oil painting background, Pang’s work explores oil paintings vis-à-vis the age of technology. The result is a collection of paintings and sculptures that you may recognise, but with a few… alterations.

Long Museum West Bund , 3398 Longteng Avenue Every day except Monday

Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum

Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum contains more than 300 mementos from the musician's life, including oil paintings, sculptures, handwritten lyrics, sketches and manuscripts dating as far back as the 1960s. In addition to a successful music career, Dylan also proved to have a knack for art, with some of his paintings appearing on the covers of several of his albums, including Self Portrait (1970) and Planet Waves (1974). His artwork has been exhibited in museums around the world as well as in published art books under his name.

Buy tickets

Continuous Regeneration

Continuous Regeneration exhibits 40 artists' creations, including Studio CHIAOZZA, MOODEVER, Skunk Control, Onishi Yasuaki, Samuelle Green and many other local and international artists. Drawings, installations and sculptures are used to cover themes like the interaction of humans and nature, water resource protection and sustainable lifestyle.

Columbia Circle , 1262 Yanan Xi Lu Every Friday,Saturday,Sunday , Every Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday

David Moreno Solo Show

Danysz gallery brings Catalan artist David Moreno to China for the first time, whose sculptures – often made of steel, plastic and wood – look like dreamy three-dimensional architectural sketches, standing halfway between concept and realisation.

Magda Danysz Gallery , 256 Beijing Dong Lu 11 Jan - 07 Mar

Observations: Highlights of the Centre Pompidou New Media Collection

Observations is the first of a series of exhibitions at West Bund Museum devoted to the various sections of the permanent collection at the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris. It features 15 artists from the New Media collection from the 1970s to the present. It shows how 'machines of vision' – telescopes, microscopes and cameras – shaped the arts and sciences.

Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum , 2600 Longteng Dadao Every day except Monday

Move on China 2019

HOW Art Museum presents the first exhibition from a three-year project, titled 30 Years of www & Media Art in China, which explores the development of Chinese new media art. Move on China features three pioneers in the field (Zhang Peili, Wang Jianwei and Feng Mengbo) who aren't afraid to expand the definition of the genre.

HOW Art Museum , Lane 2277 Zuchongzhi Road Every day except Monday

3 emerging Chinese photographers to watch right now

Influential figures in the field of photography share why they nominated these talents for the SCoP's latest, Peer to Peer

By: Yu Zhiming Posted: 4:48 pm, 13 December 2019

What to expect from the Centre Pompidou collaboration at West Bund Museum

Curated with local visitors in mind, it's a perfect starting point to get acquainted with modern art

By: Yu Zhiming Posted: 6:10 pm, 15 November 2019