The best art exhibitions in Shanghai right now

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Photograph: courtesy the artist and Long Museum West Bund

Shanghai’s art world doesn’t hibernate in winter. With almost 80 exhibitions (many of which are brand new in) on show it really is a question of which rather than what. From an Andy Warhol retrospective to quirky video works by Alex Da Corte at the historical Prada Rong Zhai to public sculptures inside Jingan Sculpture Park, here are the best art shows to catch this season.

People and Place – Leica Oskar Barnack Award 40th Anniversary

SCoP exhibits works from the 2020 finalists of the Leica Oskar Barnack Award. Named after the designer of the first Leica camera, the award recognises photography that focuses on the relationship between humans and the environment. There are works from Luca Locatelli that question our economic system, a look at the Lisbon housing crisis by Gonçalo Fonseca, Maïmouna Guerresi’s exploration of everyday life balancing between modernity and tradition in Senegal, Matthew Abbott on the Australian wildfires and more. The exhibit also shows works from the Award’s 40-year archive.

Shanghai Center of Photography , 2555 Longteng Dadao 28 Nov - 31 Jan

Tomokazu Matsuyama: Accountable Nature

Step into the fantastical and colourful world of Brooklyn-based Japanese contemporary artist Tomokazu Matsuyama at Long Museum West Bund. Drawing inspiration from his international background, Matsuyama’s signature style blends Japanese and Western cultures, incorporating elements from traditional Japanese art in the Edo- and Meiji-eras, Greek and Roman sculptures and American street art.

Long Museum West Bund , 3398 Longteng Avenue 12 Nov - 24 Jan

Design and The Wondrous: On the Nature of Ornament

The second temporary exhibition of the Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project 2019-2024 takes viewers into the world of ornament design. With more than 100 design objects primarily from the Centre Pompidou collection, the exhibition traces the history of design and explores the connections between art, craft, technology and nature.

West Bund Museum , 2600 Longteng Dadao Every day except Monday

Zhao Bandi’s Hut – A Noah’s Ark in the Post-Pandemic Era

Created for HOW Art Museum’s ongoing ‘Me & Beuys’ series – where artists are invited to create works in response to German post-war artist Joseph Beuys – experimental, Beijing-born artist Zhao Bandi built his own ‘Noah’s Ark’, a bamboo hut that acts as sanctuary in response to escalating global and personal tensions in the midst of a pandemic. Following Beuys’ artistic aspirations of bringing hope through seemingly absurd acts, Zhao’s hut – featuring a hammock made of face masks and works he created during isolation – is both a personal reflection on the pandemic and a refuge.

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

M/Made in Shanghai

Illustrious creative studio M/M Paris takes over the seventh floor of the Power Station of Art for a retrospective of its works spanning three decades. Described as ‘a theme park of an imaginary world produced in reality’, the exhibition displays hundreds of works (including out-of-scale reprints) and invites viewers to explore it in any order. Established in 1992 by design-world heavyweights Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag, M/M Paris is known for its collaborations with musicians, fashion designers and contemporary artists and the team’s works have been widely exhibited in Paris and New York.

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

Julian Opie

Coinciding with the Shanghai Jingan International Sculpture Project, where Julian Opie is also exhibiting an eye-catching LED installation, Lisson Gallery displays a collection of the British artist’s latest works. Instantly recognisable in Opie’s signature pared-back style, the show includes three large-scale group portraits, three stand- alone sculptures and one moving computer animation.

Lisson Gallery , 27 Huiqiu Lu Every day except Monday

Works from the Clouds – Celebrating 5 Years of Annealing Project

Shanghai Museum of Glass marks the fifth and final year of its Annealing project – an annual programme in which the museum commissions contemporary artists from different backgrounds to make large-scale installations using glass as the material culminating in an exhibition at the end of the year. Part of what makes it’s so exciting is that for many of the artists, it’s their first time working with a material as fragile and limiting as glass. For the finale, see the creations of Zhang Ding, Lin Tianmiao, Sun Xun, Liu Jianhua and Kelvin Kyung Kun Park.

Shanghai Museum of Glass , 685 Changjiang Xi Lu Every day except Monday

Zhang Enli: A Room That Can Move

Get up close and personal with the art of Zhang Enli as Power Station of Art showcases hundreds of works by the Jilin-born, Shanghai-based artist spanning his thirty-year career – alongside a few new paintings designed for the space – his immersive 3D ‘Space Paintings’, created directly on the wall. The retrospective reflects Zhang’s change in artistic expression from the ’90s to the present day as he captures everyday life.

Power Station of Art , 200 Huayuangang Lu 07 Nov - 07 Mar

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