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Shanghai Project ‘Envision 2116’ Kicks Off

Place

Shanghai Himalayas Museum 上海喜玛拉雅美术馆/ Century Park 世纪公园 等

日期

2016.09. – 2017.07.

Opening Exhibition

04/09/2016 & 04/2017

Shanghai Project, and its theme of Envision 2116, considers mankind’s future – 100 years from now.

With Phase 1 commencing in September, Shanghai Project serves as a platform to instigate new dialogues by inviting practitioners from a variety of disciplines, including not only liberal arts and social science, but art, science, technology, medicine and ecology, among others.

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Under the co-directorship of Yongwoo Lee, Director of Shanghai Himalayas Museum, and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of Serpentine Galleries London, the Shanghai Project is organized by the Shanghai Himalayas Museum, co-organized by the Shanghai International Culture Association, with lead sponsors Zendai Group and Envision Energy. It is notable that the Shanghai Project continues to grow into a pan-Shanghai event as it forms partnerships with museums and art fairs throughout the city. Museum partners include Power Station of Art, Rockbund Art Museum and chi K11 Museum, as well as West Bund Art Fair and Photo Shanghai.

From its inception, Shanghai Project has differentiated itself from other existing art festivals by placing emphasis on audience-oriented programming. Inaugural events for the first part of the project, or Phase 1, will offer audience participation, engagement and other public projects over the course of 10 months, beginning September 4. Phase 2 of the Shanghai Project will commence this coming April, with exhibitions spanning 100 days. Such a long-term plan has been specially devised in order to ensure the continuity of these special programs, as they cannot be achieved through a one-time event or even short-term programming.

The Phase 1 of Shanghai Project will be composed of architecture, design, library projects, children’s programs, community participation programs, open call projects and an international conference. The conference will feature numerous internationally recognized scholars, curators, critics, artists and art professionals, and it is co-organized with the International Biennial Association and in partnership with Power Station of Art.

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Envision Pavilion & Programs

One of the highlights of Phase 1 will no doubt be the Envision Pavilion, the symbolic structure of the Shanghai Project. This pavilion is designed by Japan’s internationally renowned architect, Sou Fujimoto, and will be constructed at the Shanghai Himalayas Center. With thematic inspiration referring to the future of mankind 100 years from now, this architectural structure, due to its use of scaffolds, will resemble a vision of the future: first, as the structure employs scaffolding as its skeleton rather than as a secondary material for construction, and second, for it emphasizes the architectural function of open, transparent space. Its total floor area, at 670 square meters, is not partitioned and will allow for the free and open communication amongst its inner spaces. Cildo Meireles’s large installation KU KKA KA KKA inside the pavilion will provide a multi-sensory experience that explores two ecological possibilities of our future by juxtaposing the organic and the plastic. Meanwhile, Landversations, by Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga and her root researcher team, will present a series of scenarios looking to heal the fractured relationship humans have with land, culture and society in the pavilion. Furthermore, Canadian writer and artist Douglas Coupland’s outdoor neon sign panel will be exhibited inside. Zhang Haimeng, Principal and Managing Partner of McKinsey Shanghai, will create an online game “Fast Forward Future 2116″ together with his root researcher team, allowing all the online citizens to participate in “creating” a virtual society in year 2116.

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Community Participation Program venue: M Space

Seed Planet @ Century Park

Located in Shanghai’s Century Park, “Seed Planet”, the Children’s Pavilion, has been designed by Liu Yi. The Children’s Pavilion will include play facilities in a round architectural shape that gives way to the feeling of floating in mid-air. Composed of multi-functional indoor and outdoor spaces fitted for children, the pavilion uses various colors and is characterized by its open structure, ensuring easy access for everyone.

In Phase 1 of the Shanghai Project, this pavilion will offer various programs that envision the lives of future children. A series of workshops for children and their parents will be organized with child- friendly themes, including the future, hope, games and exploration. This multi-lingual program with volunteer interpreters is expected to draw attention for its focus on children now and in 100 years.

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Otobong Nkanga, Landversation, 2016,Beirut Art Center

Qidian, Everything You Want To Know About The New Generation

Qidian, which loosely translates to ‘starting point’, is an open call program designed to tap into the talent and interests of China’s new generation of researchers and creative practitioners born since 1989. The resulting exhibition is one of the Shanghai Project’s major components, as it looks towards the future through the eyes of China’s new generation of innovators from various disciplinary backgrounds. More than 300 applicants from the fields of architecture, design, contemporary art, film, liberal arts and social science have responded to the open call and submitted their research. A jury of experts has chosen twelve innovators to exhibit their research outcomes in the Qidian exhibition this fall in Zhujiajiao. The exhibition is organized in partnership with 89plus, a long-term research platform co-founded by Simon Castets and Hans Ulrich Obrist. Twelve international 89plus participants will present their projects in dialogue with the works by the Qidian finalists.

Community Participation Program | Small Is Beautiful

A very important aspect of the Shanghai Project’s Community Participation Program is to allow architects and audiences alike to transform abandoned or dis-used buildings to create exhibition halls or performance spaces. This method of design focuses on the remodeling of existing buildings rather than occupying or dominating vast areas of land to construct new buildings, as in the past. The concept is well-realized in many small, cultural spaces renovated by talented local architects and utilized in a project entitled “Small is Beautiful.” Start with the collaboration with the shanghailander Yu Ting and his studio Wutopia Lab for the first program, “Small is Beautiful” exhibits the application of small yet multifunctional spaces and shows how these spaces can help bring cultural and community engagement to neighborhoods that would not normally encounter museum or gallery spaces. Employing these spaces to directly engage with local residents, the Community Participation Program began on July 15 and will continue through the First Edition of the Shanghai Project through collaborations for a variety of local architects.

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Rendering of Envision Pavilion, Fujimoto Architects, 2016

Shanghai Project Library: Shanghai Project X Jifeng

In collaboration with Shanghai’s symbolic bookstore, Jifeng, the Shanghai Project Library features a wide range of books and journals selected in response to this year’s theme of “2116.” Ranging from popular science fictions of Liu Cixin to survey books, architectural manuscripts to philosophical texts about the future, sheer diversity of books from the library represents the importance of dialogues across disciplinary fields and practices that Shanghai Project seeks to promote. The library will also provide visitors the opportunity to read, discuss, relax and purchase books on site.

Shanghai Project Conference with International Biennial Association

Co-organized by the Shanghai Project and International Biennial Association, in collaboration with the Power Station of Art, the international conference, entitled Biennials in Transformation: Hybridization as New Challenge, offers a day-long seminar with internationally known and respected scholars and biennial experts. Worldly renowned keynote speakers include Gayatri Spivak, Columbia University Professor, and Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Director of Castello di Rivoli Museum and former Artistic Director of Documenta (13). Other speakers include Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director of Jewish Museum; Tan Boon Hui, Director of Asia Society Museum; Wang Chunchen, Curatorial Research Department Head at Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing; Alnoor Mitha, Artistic Director of Asia Triennial Manchester; Kim Sunjung, Curator and Director of

Samuso and Artistic Director for 9th Gwangju Biennale; Sylvie Fortin, Executive and Artistic Director of Montreal Biennale; and Sarah Wilson, Professor of Courtauld Institute of Art. Divided into two sessions, the conference will be moderated by Philip Tinari, Director of Ullens Center of Contemporary Art, Beijing, and Bige Orer, Director of Istanbul Biennial.

Roundtable

The Shanghai Project Opening on September 4 will also feature two roundtable discussions, the first examining “Architecture beyond Building.” It will feature Sou Fujimoto, Envision Pavilion architect; Dai Zhikang, Founder and Chairman of Zendai Group; Liu Yi, Children’s Pavilion Architect; Karen Seto, Professor at Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and moderated by Yongwoo Lee, the Shanghai Project Artistic Director. Round two will explore “Ecology of Technology,” and it will be moderated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Co-Artistic Director of the Shanghai Project. Among others, the speakers include Zhang Lei, CEO of Envision Energy, Kevin Slavin, Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, at the MIT Media Lab; Kim Daeshik, Professor of Laboratory for Brain Reverse Engineering and Imaging at KAIST; Anna Greenspan, Professor at NYU Shanghai.

Shanghai Project Campus

Lastly, but certainly not least, Shanghai Project Campus will take the form of an international seminar, and will be held by Shanghai Project in conjunction with three international universities: Royal College of Art London, Tokyo University of Arts and Shanghai University. Touching upon artistic responses to the challenges brought by the rapidly innovating field of science and technology, as well as the relation between art and a sustainable future, the seminar will be led by scholars and students from the three universities as well as participating researchers of the Shanghai Project.

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