696 Weihai Lu

Wednesday night, while reading blogs about Shanghai and wondering what to do with Jeanni, I came upon a Shanghaiist post about one of my favorite places in the city, 696 Weihai lu.  The post gave some depressing news, 696 Weihai lu’s artists were once again under threat of eviction.  As soon as I heard this, I told Jeanni we had to go there again, especially since I realized that I did not have enough pictures to do the place justice.

 Jeanni did not feel too well that day (though still well enough to browse through vintage clothes for half an hour), so I did not get to spend as much time there as I wanted.  However, I did engage with more people this time and that is when I learned that there might be a farewell exhibition of sorts in February before everybody is kicked out.  The artists that I talked to all had a nonchalant and defeated attitude to being evicted.  I wonder happened to the fighting spirit that I had read about?  The spirit that I had read about, which that saved 696 Weihai time and time again.       

I have taken a great many people to this place, even Shari from San Diego and everybody loved it.  However, not all of you are able to make the long trip to Shanghai so I will 696 Weihai through this tour that I wrote up for one of my classes last semester.

The italics are new additions to the project since it was turned in.


696 Weihai Album

-muffinman

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Statement of Purpose:

The purpose of this tour is to give the tour taker a taste of the Chinese art scene, specifically in Shanghai through maximizing their chance in meeting with artists. 

Introduction:

 If M50 is the place to see art in Shanghai, 696 Weihai is the place to see it created.  Away from touristy galleries at Moganshan Lu, lies an old opium storage facility that is now home to over 30 artists and their studios.  Recognized as an incubator of contemporary Chinese art, 696 Weihai Lu is just a block away from the Nanjing Shi Lu station, making this little known art Mecca very accessible.  The studios, photography studios, and galleries are all housed in dark and crumbling British industrial architecture.  Coming to 696 Weihai is just as much about the art as it is about experiencing a piece of old underground Shanghai and the bohemian life of an artist. 

The complex





As of currently, the residents of 696 Weihai have been successful in defending their homes from the government, but interested individuals should make the trip to 696 Weihai sooner rather than later because the site is under constant threat of being torn and developed.  In addition, as artists are not known for keeping regular hours, the chance that all the stops on this tour are open on the same day is extremely small, meaning multiple visits are required.  The best time to go is during the weekday between five and seven, as the darkness will add an element of mysteriousness to the buildings and most of the studios and gallery will be open.     

Stops:

Le Rexo Art and Deco: Building 1 #103

One of the few places at 696 Weihai that is purely commercial, Le Rexo: Art and Deco is a store that sells imported European furniture and art.  It is an interesting place to start the tour as it gives the tour taker something to compare Shanghai art to.  This place is boring, terrible and overly commercialized.

Dohjidai Gallery of Art: Building 11 #102

Dohjidai Gallery of Art is Japanese owned and features contemporary artists from Japan and China.  The gallery space is small but the collection switches frequently and the artists on display are usually more famous than those in other galleries at 696 Weihai.  This gallery switches its pieces extremely often and it is not always good. 

Around Space: Building 9 #202 and Building 11 #108

Around Space has two galleries at 696 Weihai , making it the largest  exhibition space at 696 Weihai.  Their mission is to “re-invent traditional Chinese aesthetics; cultivate ‘art without borders,’ and [show] the interaction and co-existence of the two.”  Around Space features

Artist studio #1: Building 11 #201

In room #201, there is an artist who paints self portraits of himself, with various objects growing out of his body, which critique Chinese society.  All you have to do is ask nicely at the door and he will invite you into his studio.  This artist is one of the more regular ones at 696 Weihai.  He is my favorite artist and it kills me that I cannot talk to him.  Jeanni finds his art too violent and actually could not stay in the studio for more than a few minutes

Artist studio #2: Building 11 #312

Room #312 is a massive studio that features an artist who has many of his works hanging off the walls, as well as a few sculptures.   Despite being one of the larger spaces in building 11, this studio is rarely open.  I have only been in this studio twice and both time there was an abundance of wine bottles.  The first time I went there, the artist was dead asleep and the second time he was nowhere to be found. 

Not sure what this is supposed to represent


Notice the bottles


The artist is sleeping soundly

Stage Back: Building 11 #310

Started in 2008 by German artist Susanne Junker, Stage Back features foreign artists’ perspective on Shanghai.  Every two months or so, Stage Back hosts events where visitors can meet and talk to the artists.  These people are really nice and always open, so I every time I visit I always drop by.

Tangshu Art: Building 11 #308

Tang Shu is a local Shanghai artist who teaches at the Shanghai Institute of Technology.  He has been featured in many exhibitions and his current paintings comment heavily on Chinese society today.  This stop on the tour is his studio, which also doubles as his gallery.  I have never been in this artist’s studio though from his bio that I found online he has some interesting art.

Urbanity Project: Building 11 #303

The Urbanity Project was set up by a group called the Shanghai Arts Community, which sought to show the human component of cities.  The gallery features works in all mediums and artists from all across the world, with a concentration on ones living in China.  Various creators of the works on display drop by and linger in this gallery.   The man who runs the gallery is from Virginia and the last time I went with Jeanni, I actually talked to him.  He asked for my flickr account so hopefully he likes what he sees.  Unfortunately, I do not like any of the pieces in this gallery.

Their logo

Christina Shmigel: Building 11 #409

An American artist who has been living in Shanghai since 2004, Christina Shmigel’s sculptures are often made out of everyday items.  Her work has been featured in galleries across the world and since moving to Shanghai, her work has had a strong Chinese flavor.   I talked to this artist when I took Shari here and Christina was extremely nice and welcoming. When I visited her, she had just shipped the majority of her pieces to St. Louis for an exhibition so I was not able to see much, however, what I did see was pretty interesting.  I am looking forward to visiting her again. 

My favorite place in Shanghai: Moganshan Lu

When Jeanni asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her I really wanted her to accompany me to Moganshan Lu. After a postponed date, I finally got around to going a couple of weeks ago (Yes, this entry is that old). I came to Moganshan Lu with extremely high expectations because I was getting sick of the over the top commercialism of Shanghai and I really just wanted find something that was more “real.” Needless to say, Moganshan Lu did not disappoint, it was everything I hoped for and more.

When Jeanni and I got off the subway, we found ourselves in a residential area. Knowing that I was terrible with directions, Jeanni questioned whether we were in the right place and to be honest, even I doubted myself a little, but I just smiled and replied with a confident “of course!” Interestingly, the area around the subway station reminded Jeanni of Korea while it reminded me strongly of Hong Kong. Perhaps, these east Asian countries are not too different after all.

Finding the street came with some difficulties because the street sign read M50 and not Moganshan, but once we entered the street, there was no mistaking that we had arrived. This was not because there was a large amount of galleries right at the mouth of the street, on the contrary there was nothing but rundown warehouses. However, on the wall that ran along the street, was the some of the best graffiti that I have seen and the first time I had seen graffiti in Shanghai. There was something strange about the graffiti in Moganshan Lu though, everything was just too organized. Unlike the graffiti that I had seen in LA, which was a mess of overlapping pieces, the graffiti artists of Moganshan Lu seemed to respect each other’s space. Very little of the graffiti overlapped and it was almost as if the artists were allotted a portion of the wall. Not sure if I like the “organized” style because it makes the whole graffiti wall seem staged and runs counter to my perception of graffiti being a chaotic art form.


Graffiti Wall

My initial impression of the galleries was quite negative. The first few galleries that I stepped into displayed very abstract art that did not suit me at all. At that point in time, it was all very disappointing and I felt that Moganshan Lu was quickly becoming another disappointment in Shanghai. Besides maybe one gallery, all the galleries at the beginning of the street were terrible. I remember at one gallery, I found the paint job on the walls more interesting than the art pieces.

Then I arrived at M50 and was blown away. M50 is the area where the galleries all reside. The address for the group of galleries is 50 Moganshan Lu, hence the name M50. The galleries are housed in a giant renovated warehouse, where long dark hallways and bare brick walls were the norm. Everything you see in the galleries can be bought for the right price. Original art pieces ran from just under a thousand to tens of thousands of US dollars. As I looked at canvas after canvas, all I could think was “maybe one day,” I think I have found what to hang on the wall of my coffee shop.

After two hours of gallery hopping, Jeanni and I were oversaturated with art, by that I mean piece after piece was starting to look the same and I had ceased to appreciate what I was seeing. Sitting in the nearby extremely overpriced (and bad) coffee shop with Jeanni, I mulled over what I had seen. I noticed that in many of the pieces, Communism and Buddhism were prevalent themes, which is to be expected. In addition, many of the pieces dealt with the conflict of modern China with its ancient roots. If M50 is truly representative of Chinese modern art, then I am very excited for the future.


Hallway of galleries

A few days later, I went back to Moganshan Lu with Crystal and it seems that the magic just does not wear off. I repeated some galleries and found some pieces that I had missed the first time around, as well as visited many new galleries. This time around, I was a bit bolder about taking photographs where I was not supposed to and; Crystal and I had a lot of fun with that. At the end of two hours of gallery hopping with Crystal, I realized that Jeanni and I had not covered the majority of galleries at all. Even after a second day at M50, there was still a great deal to see.


One of my favorite pieces at M50


Crystal posing next to a sad star

I wonder when my third M50 trip will be.

-muffinman

Moganshan Lu Photos