ShanghaiArt Guide

Despite lagging behind Beijing during China’s contemporary art boom of the 1990s and 2000s, Shanghai has developed a reputation as a global art centre, with a cultural offering to rival that of New York or Paris.

Shanghai’s museums and galleries are notable for their unique architecture, often adapted from a past life. The Rockbund Art Museum (RAM) is housed in a beautiful 1932 Art Deco building, originally home to the Royal Asiatic Society. The Power Station of Art, once a working power station, is now home to the Shanghai Biennale.

Following the barges upstream, visitors encounter three museums established by private collectors: Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian’s Long Museum, identified by its coal hopper design; Chinese-Indonesian collector Budi Tek‘s Yuz Museum, housed in former aircraft hangars and specialising in jaw-dropping kinetic and large-scale artworks; and entrepreneur Qiao Zhibing’s TANK Shanghai, located in repurposed fuel silos.

The iconic Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, as well as the cultural exchange initiative Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project, are both crucial establishments in the city, serving exhibitions that consistently expand outlooks on contemporary forms of expression and global cultures.

Early 20^th-century architecture—including RAM’s building—lends old-world charm at the Bund proper. The district is also home to global blue-chip galleries such as Lisson Gallery, Perrotin, Pearl Lam Galleries, and Almine Rech. Other leading commercial galleries include ShanghART, MadeIn Gallery, AIKE, and Edouard Malingue Gallery.

The West Bund is where mainland China’s leading art fair, West Bund Art & Design, takes place each November. Staged in the palatial Shanghai Exhibition Centre, the annual ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair and PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai have also contributed to the cultivation of an ambitious new generation of Chinese collectors.

Spread throughout Shanghai’s former French Concession in the Xuhui District is an exciting new generation of galleries backing young artists and experimental practices: Capsule Shanghai, Studio Gallery, BANK, Antenna Space, and Arario Gallery, to name a few. Fittingly located nearby is Dumonteil Contemporary, who spotlight modern and contemporary French and Chinese artists.

South of the Wusong River, M50 Creative Park hosts Chronus Art Center, whose focus is on research and new media art, as well as ShanghART’s second Shanghai location, where it showcases emerging and experimental talent.

UCCA Edge extends the UCCA institution further north, across three storeys of the EDGE tower. On the other side of the Huangpu River, the Shanghai Himalayas Museum promotes research and academic exchange in addition to exhibitions, reflecting Shanghai’s pluralistic, multifaceted approach to developing conversations around contemporary art.