Before Oriental DreamWorks floats into the West Bund in 2016, the flock of abandoned warehouses and oil tanks they’ll use for offices and theaters is currently hosting the area’s first-ever exhibition: West Bund 2013: A Biennial of Architecture and Contemporary Art.
Running until December 19, the show aims to combine the four cultural phenomenas coming to this area: DreamWorks, a concert hall, new art museums and architecture. Hinged on two themes – ‘Reflecta’ and ‘Fabrica’ – the biennial showcases contemporary works, space construction through different displays of architecture and sound, video and performance art.
Originally the site of a cement factory, a massive oil tank houses the central exhibition where an oil rig-turned-art-piece towers above more than 70 displays. Along with a retrospective review of Chinese architecture since the start of the 21st century, other highlights include ‘Shanghai Odyssey,’ a look at 170 years of Shanghai as a port, and a ground timeline of the largest sound events in Chinese history.
Outside the main hall are four smaller oil-turned-art tanks each with various interactive displays. Walk further up the Xuhui waterfront and discover separate outdoor sections of the Biennial. A Vertical Glass House by Zhang Yonghe allows visitors to climb through stories of see-through sections, while the Cloud Pavilion, designed by architect Schmidt Hammer, is compartmentalized into areas like a rope cage and a room with colorful plastic people on the run. For a full list of exhibits, artist info and the walking route, visit www.westbundbiennial.com before you go.
Interested? Just head over! For the indoor areas, you’ll need a ticket, but they’re free and can be picked up in the white tent outside the entrance gate. A shuttle bus runs every 40 minutes between 10am and 5pm with pick-up points outside Longyao Lu Station on Line 11 and outside the exhibit’s main hall (timetable available in the ticket office).
The bus travels along the riverside (Longteng Dadao) so you can enjoy the waterfront without having to walk the entire 8.5 km. At the time of visiting (early November), not all the buildings had been completed in the outside sector, but the construction workers didn’t stop us from heading in to have a nose around.
// 10am-5pm, closed Mondays. 2350 Longteng Dadao 龙腾大道2350号 (6457 1166, www.westbundbiennial.com)
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