Shanghai Surprise , A Group Show on Contemporary Art in Shanghai

SHANGHAI SURPRISE is curated by Shanghai‐based Leo Xu and Azure Wu who have spotted and experienced much of the city’s metamorphosis from 2000 to present, during their curatorial stint at local museums and later positions in curating, art dealing and publishing. Inspired by an empathy with a film’s title, this eponymous project is envisioned as a capsule of time and space rather than an encyclopedic gesture.

SHANGHAI SURPRISE comprises two parts, one is an group exhibition featuring works by defining artists, young generation of Chinese and expat authors who bear a strong tie with Shanghai – be it geographically or culturally – and the other a mobile library that captures the transformation of the city’s cultural landscape.

Central to the exhibition is a selection of works that are rarely seen in Shanghai or less exhibited and possibly fading into oblivion after premiere. Being less iconic, this body of works is deemed by the two curators as a distinctive narrative to unfold the last ten years’ production of contemporary art in Shanghai. These works will be complemented by a presentation of recent output by younger Shanghai‐based artists.

Titled THE SUBSCRIBERS #1: ARCHIVING CONTEMPORARY ART IN SHANGHAI SINCE 2000, the mobile library is scattered across the entire exhibition space and provides access to a rich collection of printed matters and digital resources both documenting the activities of Shanghai‐based artists, collectives, and programs of institutions, galleries, alternative spaces and cultural councils of foreign consulates in Shanghai.