Art Shanghai
WORDS DAVID ELLIOTT PLAYING TO THE GALLERIES While it may have become best known for its explosion of skyscrapers, Shanghai has also been busy building an impressive collection of contemporary art museums. ike Sydney and Melbourne, NYC and LA, and Delhi and Mumbai, Beijing and Shanghai have always competed with each other. As the capital, Beijing has the political Lstatus, but Shanghai has long been the commercial hub of China. In 2008, Beijing proudly presented the Olympic Games, but Shanghai was just as honoured to host the 2010 World Expo. Last year saw the topping out of the Shanghai Tower, China’s tallest (and the second highest in the world), but there are rumours that a new skyscraper in Beijing’s CBD will be even higher. China’s museum and gallery sector is no different. Beijing has claimed superiority, but now Shanghai is a very serious challenger, especially in the new growth area of private museums. Shanghai is huge – by most counts the biggest city in the world – and its art museums are spread out. Luckily, the city’s metro is excellent, so you can get to most of them by under- ground, and short taxi hops will see to the remainder. ❯ The Long Museum, PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES West Bund, Shanghai 82 QANTAS SEPTEMBER 2014 ART SHANGHAI CENTRAL SHANGHAI THE LONG MUSEUM IS ONE A good place to start is Shanghai Museum on People’s Square (201 OF THE BEST TO GAIN AN Renmin Avenue; 9am-5pm daily, free; www.shanghaimuseum.net/ en). Ugly on the outside, fantastic within, it provides a crash course UNDERSTANDING OF 20TH in China’s long cultural history including ceramics, bronze work, CENTURY CHINESE ART sculpture, painting, calligraphy, jade, seals, even furniture.
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