Shanghai Kaleidoscope: Global China and the 21st Century
Yang Zhenzhong Let’s Puff 2002 Installation view Courtesy of the artist and the Haudenschild Collection
Two shows at the Royal Ontario Museum bring us up to date on the past, present and future of the dominant cultural engine in China, the city of Shanghai.
A seaport defined in the 19th century by corruption, casinos and the opium trade during the height of European imperialism, Shanghai is now a laboratory for 21st-century urban design. At the ROM’s Institute for Contemporary Culture, “Shanghai Kaleidoscope” focuses on four key aspects of its new cultural life: art, fashion, urban design and architecture.
Yang Zhenzhong Light and Easy II 2002 Video still Courtesy of the artist and ShanghArt Gallery
A fascinating complement to this contemporary overview is “Shanghai 1860–1949,” a selection of 80 historical images that tell the story of the city from its opening to the West to its mid-century revolutions. It runs in the ROM’s Herman Herzog Levy Gallery until October 26. (100 Queen’s Park, Toronto ON)
Wheelbarrow and fruit peddler c. 1880 Courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum
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