Island6 Bund Description

    It seems that the year of the snake has been kind to Liu Dao. Aside from many successful in-house exhibitions in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the opening of a 2nd m50 location (island6 Shanghai Garden) and trips to an inane amount of international art fairs, island6 has indeed stayed on their track with their devious plan for world domination. In October of 2013, island6 and the Liu Dao art collective proudly opened their 3rd Shanghai location, island6 Bund.

Located in the former Studio Rouge on the Bund location, island6 newest pet takes residence on the corner of historic Fuzhou lu and Zhongshan Lu whilst facing the futuristic Pudong skyline. The three story red brick and granite building was constructed for an English business in 1901 and remains the Bunds unique remaining example of neo-classical Victorian architecture. For most of its life, building No.9 was occupied by the China Merchants Steamship Company, the first Chinese business to install itself on the Bund.

While all international trading houses, banks and pomp in the front, a seedier side to Shanghainese life stirred in the backstreets during our darling no.9’s younger years. In the blocks behind the Bund, tangled webs of hanging wire masked the Neoclassical and Art Deco masterpieces while the glow of red lanterns from hundreds of singsongs coined Fuzhou lu with the sobriquet, ‘the lane of lingering happiness’. Fortunately for island6 today, the only red glow cast upon the sidewalks is the flickering of our own LED artworks and installations. The area is well known today for boasting an impressive amount of bookshops and art supply stores as well as some of the most highly esteemed galleries of contemporary art in Shanghai. Only a stones throw away from the Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Around Space Gallery, Pearl Lam and Art + Shanghai, island6 Bund is surely in good company.