How wonderful is walking along the art of "one river, one river"?, In the city with the most art museums in the country
"This is an art museum manual written for the public. I have walked through every path to reach the art museum repeatedly. For example, there are three walking paths from the Star Art Museum to the Dragon Art Museum: walking along the riverbank, walking along Ruining Road, and walking along the railway track." Pan Li, the author of "Walking at the Shanghai Art Museum," said, "Arriving at the art museum is reaching an imagination, releasing oneself from the real dimension and daily life, and reaching a more diverse civilization and life experience. And you will also become a part of the art museum; through your arrival, you can complete the viewing, action, and participation of works, and become a cultural creator."
Shanghai is the city with the largest number of art museums in the country. In recent years, art museums have increasingly integrated into people's daily lives, with various exhibitions, public open days, and public education activities emerging one after another. Why do we go to the art museum? What changes have art museums brought to cities? On the afternoon of September 17th, the "Visible Art Museum - Walking Shanghai Art Museum" New Book Sharing Conference was held at the Niaoya Bookstore of Shangsheng Xinsuo. Pan Li, along with curator and urban researcher Zhu Ye, advocate for children's aesthetic education Gesang, and executive deputy editor in chief Gao Xiaohui of Tongji University Press, explored the relationship between art museums and cities from different perspectives.
On site of the sharing meeting
"Walking at the Shanghai Art Museum" has sorted out the main art museums along the "One River, One River" route in Shanghai, and rearranged the urban public art map with the geographical concept of "water system". It introduces 15 representative art museums from various aspects such as architectural design, curation, and operation, including the art museums transformed from industrial relics such as coal silos, power plants, and workshops. The artworks of architectural masters such as David Shipfield, Jean Nouvelle, and Tadao Ando, located on the riverside walkway, the Bund, alleyways, villas, shopping malls, and office buildings, outline a clear and vivid "map of the Shanghai Art Museum".
Inside page of "Walking at Shanghai Art Museum"
"It can be said that the artistic narrative in Shanghai is a narrative of water." Pan Li proposed that one river, one Huangpu River, and Suzhou River, as the main water veins of Shanghai, have developed and nurtured an artistic vein that emerged alongside the water in the past 20 years. The waterfront space of Suzhou River, with a total length of about 6.3 kilometers, has distributed over 100 art spaces of various sizes by 2023. On both sides of the Huangpu River, multiple artistic zones converge: the Bund of the historic and cultural district, the "West Bank Cultural Corridor" project developed systematically after 2010, and the "Future World Expo" venues.
The beginning of Suzhou River Art Belt was M50. In 1999, the Chunming Coarse Textile Factory located at 50 Moganshan Road in Shanghai ceased production and transformed into the "Chunming Urban Industrial Park". At that time, a large number of factories with cheap rent attracted artist studios to settle in, followed by galleries such as the Biyi Art Center and the Shangner Gallery. The early M50 laid the foundation for the texture of Shanghai's contemporary art ecology, and the artists and gallery owners who were active here at that time are still the backbone of the Shanghai art community today.
M50 is a spontaneously formed art district, behind which lies the golden decade of rapid growth in contemporary Chinese art. Since 2010, art institutions at the level of art museums have successively settled down along the Suzhou Creek, forming an art vein of Suzhou Creek, from the east section of Suzhou Creek to Garden Bridge of Shanghai, reaching the Bund. The century old architecture of the Bund has transformed into an art museum, creating a unique Bund art ecology.
Inside page of "Walking at Shanghai Art Museum"
The west bank is a planned art area. After the Xuhui District Government clearly proposed the brand engineering strategy of building the "West Coast Cultural Corridor" at the end of 2011, the new cultural landmark of "Shanghai West Coast" officially emerged. The West Coast area covers many projects such as the West Coast Art Center, West Coast Cultural and Art Demonstration Zone, West Coast Art Bonded Warehouse, and West Coast Art Museum Avenue. From north to south, Art Museum Avenue is dotted with Star Art Museum, Dragon Art Museum, West Coast Art Museum, and Shanghai Oil Tank Art Center, forming a spectacular museum cluster that coexists with riverside green spaces and parks, becoming a popular public area.
The 2010 Shanghai World Expo, with a city as its theme, was located on both sides of the Huangpu River. After the World Expo, the "China Pavilion" became the Palace of Chinese Art, while the "City Future Pavilion" was transformed into the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art. "When we connect the art museums in Shanghai with water as the vein, the temporal context of 'museum history' is also contained in it." Pan Li said that the 15 art museums introduced in "Walking at the Shanghai Art Museum" involve different operating modes. Although the operating backgrounds are different, modern art museums consider "public" in their construction, demolishing the "walls" of the art museums and integrating them into urban life. This is not only the architect's concept at the beginning of building the art museum, but also the actual action of the art museum in exhibitions and activities. The book also includes exclusive interviews with the curator and designer, as well as over 150 pictures of the museum's space and exhibition, leading readers on a "paper art journey".
The "Walking at the Shanghai Art Museum" project is not just about books, but also an attempt to break through the cycle of urban development iteration, knowledge production and dissemination. Tongji University Press, in collaboration with Tongji University's School of Design and Creativity, focuses on the theme of "Walking at the Shanghai Art Museum" and the content of the "Space Reading" course. Starting from publishing and teaching, it links with major art museums, primary and secondary schools, street communities, etc. in Shanghai to build a social public education media service platform that uses publishing as a carrier. Through various methods such as book publishing, cultural and creative product development, and public welfare activities, it jointly promotes social art education. The "Walking at the Shanghai Art Museum" series of public welfare activities recently received funding support from the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism for cultural projects in 2023. In the future, Tongji University Press will continue to link high-quality resources from universities and society, exploring the possibility of providing more and better knowledge services and public education content to the public and society.
The concept of CityWalk is currently hot, and Tongji University Press has been planning the "City Walk Book Series" since 2012. With the concept of "reading illuminates the city, walking inspires thinking", the book invites writers, scholars, media professionals, architects, designers, photographers and other travelers from different fields to share their observations and thoughts on the city through original and unique themes, relaxed and vivid forms, and bilingual narratives in Chinese and English. It guides people to have a more comprehensive understanding of the city and appreciate urban culture from a more diverse perspective while walking. The book series has successively published 18 books, including "Shanghai Lane Cultural Map: Shikumen", "Wang Shu Architectural Map", and "Shanghai Wudak Architectural Map". As the 18th book in the series, Walking at the Shanghai Art Museum also gave birth to the IP image "Art Cat Dudou", opening an account on social media to "take you to see the art museum, chat about art, design, explore the city, and enjoy life.".
"City Walk Book Series"
"Art Cat Doudou" Walking in Shanghai Art Museum
