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Young imaginations run wild at exhibition
Print Edition
INSIDE a room at Zendai Zhujiajiao Art Museum, a historic building in suburban Shanghai’s Qingpu District, algae in glass water bottles are presented in front of panels illustrating a future where the city is largely under water and algae is used as a biological building material.
Nearby, viewers can use virtual reality equipment to experience a documentary about the city’s unique shikumen (stone gate)-style lane houses, which blend Eastern and Western architectural features. The scenes invite viewers to think about how many of these unique communities, already rapidly disappearing, will survive the city’s ongoing development efforts.
These and other works are part of an exhibition entitled “Qidian” (Starting Point), which features contributions from 12 Chinese and 11 foreign artists, all born after 1989.
The exhibit is part of the Shanghai Himalayas Art Museum’s year-long Shanghai Project, a cross-disciplinary endeavor which aims to explore what the future might hold in store. The project touches on a variety of fields and disciplines, including visual art, music, architecture, design and science.
“We selected 12 (Chinese) finalists from more than 300 applications for the ‘Qidian’ open call program,” Sooyoung Leam, a curator for the show, tells Shanghai Daily. “From the very beginning, it was meant to be diverse ... We wanted the participants to run wild with their imaginations and not feel restricted by any specific requirements.”
Works from the Chinese finalists are showcased in conjunction with those from artists associated with the “89plus” project, which focuses on the generation born after 1989.
“It was a year that saw huge socio-cultural shifts, including the introduction of the World Wide Web and the beginning of the universal availability of the Internet,” Simon Castets, co-founder of “89plus,” explains in an e-mail interview. “We are interested in learning about the creative practitioners and innovators from this generation — born in and after 1989 — who grew up not knowing a world without the Internet.”
The year 1989 is also of significance as nearly half of the world’s population was born after this year, according to information on the project’s website.
Shanghai Daily connected with “89plus” founders Castets and Hans-Ulrich Obrist, “Qidian” co-curator Leam and 21-year-old artist Wang Zi, the youngest of all the finalists, to discuss the young generation’s ideas about art and the future.
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