Shanghai Museums of Art

Shanghai Biennale 2006 - Shanghai Museum of Art

Shanghai Museum
I spent most of today at the Shanghai Museum located in People’s Square – it took 6 hours to cover 4 floors of ceramics, bronze, calligraphy, painting, coins, furniture, seals (not the fur kind), sculpture and my favorite, the ‘ethnic minority groups’, each with a separate gallery showcasing the most amazing fabrics, clothes, tools and other artifacts from about 3,800 BC ish

I had a very rough knowledge of Chinese History which has now been greatly enhanced

This is a must for all who would like to ‘understand’ the ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘where’ of technological and creative advances that have had major impacts on our society as a whole

Set aside plenty of time as the bookshop alone will consume you for hours!

MOCA Shanghai
The Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MOCA Shanghai) is the first non-profit, independently-operated contemporary art institution in Shanghai. Its a fabulous glass structure nestled into the gardens on the northern side of People Park

I was fortunate to visit during the Shanghai Biennale 2006 and spent hours exploring the various indoor and outdoor interactive installations. The retail shop is tiny and has a very limited range of books and cards, you can however, unlike Australia, take as many photos as you like!

Shanghai Art Museum
Tucked away behind the National Theatre is the Shangahi Art Museum, established in 1956 in the circa 1930’s Shanghai Race Course clubhouse

Renovations in 2000 resulted in the creation of 12 gallery spaces covering 5 floors. I found the exhibitions themselves quite difficult to navigate as the ‘english’ signage is very limited and many of the spaces are narrow and mazelike. More problematic is the fact that exhibition schedules are in Chinese only, and so is the Website

The gallery hosts a huge range of international exhibitions and has managed the Shanghai Biennale since 1996