 he Institute for Contemporary Culture (ICC) at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) presents Shanghai Kaleidoscope from May 4, 2008 to November 2, 2008. Organized by the ICC at the ROM and guest-curated by Christopher Phillips of New York’s International Center for Photography, the exhibition offers an unprecedented view of one of the world's most dynamic cities, highlighting an emerging generation of Chinese artists, architects and fashion designers.
Shanghai Kaleidoscope focuses on the key aspects of the city’s vibrant culture: architecture, urban design, contemporary art, cinema and fashion. Working with the ICC, curatorial consultant Christopher Phillips has created the world’s first exhibition that examines the city’s fascinating and quick reconfiguration as a 21st century city through an adventurous mix of video installations, photo-works, designer fashion apparel,  runway videos and films by Shanghai's leading contemporary artists and designers. The exhibition provides an insider's view of city’s high-speed, high-density, high-rise culture, seen from the vantage point of those who are taking part in its astonishing transformation and growth.
Artist Shi Yong, a Shanghai native, has witnessed his city’s transformation, now boasting more than 4,000 skyscrapers (twice as many as New York). For the artist, the city appears as a kind of virtual-reality, populated with “mirage-like” buildings. In Gravity: Shanghai Night Sky (2004), he responds to this phenomenon by creating a two-metre high by five-metre wide (7.8-ft by 18-ft) configuration of 56 lightbox-mounted photographic transparencies. A short video entitled Crumpling Shanghai (2000) by Song Dong captures the artist abruptly crumpling white sheets of paper that show contemporary Shanghai street scenes. This series of disappearing images suggest the fragility and transience of urban life.
Shen Fan, a Shanghai painter whose minimalist, monochromatic shapes often suggest natural forms, has created a smaller version of his monumental neon installation that was originally presented at the 2006 Shanghai Biennale. The piece, entitled Landscape: Commemorating Huang Binhong (small version, 2007), is a “painting” composed of 360 neon tubes designed to suggest both the short  brushstrokes reminiscent of traditional Chinese ink painting as well as contemporary Shanghai’s neon-illuminated nightscape. The work is dedicated to the celebrated artist Huang Binhong (1864-1955), one of the leading 20th-century innovators in traditional Chinese painting, who was famous for his freehand landscapes.
Yang Zhenzhong’s short video loop Light and Easy 2 (2002) depicts the artist attempting to balance an upside-down view of Shanghai’s Pudong area, the financial district located on the east side of the Huangpu River, on his fingertip. His piece explores the idea of how “effortlessly” the city’s residents have adapted to the rapid urban development, while also hinting at the topsy-turvy quality of the new landscape. Visitors can experience Yang Zhenzhong’s Let’s Puff (2002) by walking between two large video screens. This installation creates a visual metaphor for the winds of change that have swept through China’s cities during the past decade. On one side a woman inhales and exhales with great force. At each exhalation, a central Shanghai street scene suddenly accelerates on the opposite screen.
A three-screen video installation entitled Flutter, Flutter, Jasmine, Jasmine (2002) by Yang Fudong tells a fictitious and fragmented story about a Chinese couple living in one of Shanghai’s high rises.  The characters speak frankly to the camera about their insecurities and at the end they pledge their love to one another from the building’s rooftop. The video sequence contrasts their naïve idealism with images of the city’s harsh landscape.
The exhibition also offers a selection of photographic and film experiences. Beijing artist Shi Guorui uses the camera obscura technique to create large haunting silver gelatin prints of contemporary Shanghai entitled Shanghai, April 8-9, 2005 (2005) and Shanghai 1, August 18-19, 2004 (2004). These negative prints were created over an eight-hour exposure from a hotel window overlooking the banks of the Huangpu River. Crystal CG, one of China's most innovative digital multimedia companies, has created the computer animation Shanghai Panorama 2008 (2008), a fly-through tour of contemporary Shanghai that provides a soaring, futuristic vision of China's largest and most dynamic city. A digital display of 35 photographs by Canadian-born Shanghai resident Greg Girard presents the demolition of the old city and the construction of the new metropolis. Visitors can also view six video statements by Shanghai residents who are among the city's artists, fashion designers, filmmakers, and curators.
Another section features the work of three contemporary Chinese fashion designers, accompanied with runway videos. Wang Yiyang, Zhang Da and Gao Xin display their 2008 designs.
 From April 26, 2008 to October 26, 2008, coinciding with Shanghai Kaleidoscope, the ROM presents Shanghai 1860 -1940: Historical Photographs, a selection of 80 historical photographs of Shanghai in the Herman Herzog Levy Gallery on Level 1. Personal, powerful and poignant images document the development of Shanghai to China’s foremost commercial and cultural centre in the early 20th century up to the radical changes of 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was established.
As part of Asian Heritage Month, the ROM is pleased to present China Month, a series of Chinese-themed lectures, films and musical performances on Sundays throughout the month of May. More information on these offerings will be posted on www.rom.on.ca in early spring.
|
