... why not get a terracotta one instead? That statue on the right, ladies and gentlemen, is Roger Federer.

French sculptor Laury Dizengremel has been commissioned by the Association of Tennis Professionals to create terracotta warriors of the world's best eight tennis players including Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, James Blake, and Richard Gasquet to be unveiled at the Tennis Masters Cup, the prestigious circuit ending championship that will be held in our city.

Just as well, since lots of the original soldiers are currently on holiday taking part in the largest exhibition of the terracotta army outside China at the British Museum.

Shanghai Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center, 5500 Yuanjiang South Road, Minhang District. 上海旗忠森林体育城网球中心，元江路5500号
Tickets: 35-632 USD. Purchase tickets http://www.masters-cup.com/2/tickets/.

Photo from mikehayes@snet.net
Video below shows Laury Dizengremel at work and interviews with the stars.

In its second year, the first independent dance festival in China brings lust, desire, sensuality and sexuality to the stage. The Shanghai Dance Festival initiated by Jin Xing exhibits works of dance companies from China, Denmark, Israel, Sweden and Switzerland.

It’s the show we saw from Switzerland, closing Wednesday night (tonight), by the Dutch actor and choreographer Arthur Kuggeleyn that got us hot under the collar. His composition, “Master of Complications” is a bold exploration of society and sex. The show confronts the audience, literally, to decide for itself where boundaries lie between voyeurism, desire, lust, control and restraint. The passive-active portrayal of sexual relationships is cleverly mirrored by the choreographic interaction of dancers and audience.

Kuggeleyn's style uses pulsating rhythms of ritualized movement acoustics and visuals. He calls it "trance dance", a form that oozes sexual energy and builds in a long crescendo. The climax is tomorrow night.

Venue: Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center – Drama Salon. September 24//25//26, 19:30. Tickets: 260 RMB. 288 Anfu Lu near Wukang Lu. Ticket info tel: 6327 0578

Photo by Luca Pedrotti.

Remember Hairong Tiantian (海容天天), the Chinese blogger, who shot to fame last year by soliciting pictures of limp dicks? She started dabbling with a bit of performance art earlier this year when she joined artist Ye Fu living in adjacent tiny glass rooms, sealed off from one another and the rest of the world, in Beijing's eastern Jiuxianqiao industrial area. Well this time, she has shed her clothes again all in the name of art, in a performance item called 'Lotus' under an exhibition called 99 Tents, 99 Dreams (“99个帐篷，99个梦想”) at the 'Left and Right Art Zone' (左右艺术区) in Beijing.

MORE PICS AFTER THE JUMP
WARNING: MAY NOT BE WORK-SAFE!!!

From Shanghai-based artist Chen Hangfeng:

I just love Nike, the shoes, the shirts, the hats. There is not a piece of clothing I own that doesn't bear the Nike logo. One morning I realized that even my shit was shaped like a Nike Logo. I wonder, is there something wrong with my stomach or my mind.
(No turds were harmed in the creation of this poster. Poo made from plastic putty and oil paint)

Weekenders looking for a break from the usual club and pub offerings should consider these two interesting events this weekend.

Saturday, September 8th
m97 Gallery "Document/Portrait" exhibition
Opening Reception, 5pm to 8pm

m97 Gallery consistently showcases China's best contemporary photographers and their upcoming exhibition, "Document/Portrait" brings veteran and newcomer works together for what promises to be a very approachable and honest look at China today. Be on the lookout for works from perennial favorites, Peng&Chen and Yan Cheng whose "Theme:Park" exhibition was recently shown in July.

From their press release:

Document / Portrait” is a broad look at a diverse range of photographic styles and subject matter depicting the many faces and facets of China each illustrating various aspects of modern Chinese society all through the genre of portraiture. Both urban and rural realities are explored, and traditional Chinese ethnic and cultural symbols are seen alongside documents of China’s ever-expanding and often anonymous urban centers.

Sunday, September 9th
M on the Bund's Glamour Bar presents Duncan Hewitt's Getting Rich First: Life in a Changing China book launch.
Author talk, 4pm. 50RMB includes one drink

Former BBC correspondent and China resident since 1986, Duncan Hewitt will be giving a talk on his first book, Getting Rich First, which follows the dramatic societal changes in China following Deng Xiaoping's economic reform in the 1990s. Shanghaiist has not yet read the book, but it should be an interesting insider take on the forces that have shaped this city.

m97 Gallery | Shanghai
97 Moganshan Road, 2nd Floor
+8621 6266.1597

The Glamour Bar
6/F, No. 5 The Bund (at Guangdong Lu)
Shanghai
Tel: (86-21) 6350 9988

JazzArt, as you might have heard, is a monthly jazz concert series held at a different gallery each month. They have become our favorite regular jazz event, not just because we happen to be involved with the planning and implementation but also because art galleries are fantastic places for jazz concerts in general. Also people who show up to these kind of concerts tend to really listen to the music, whereas in smoky bars at night many people come to chat, or conspicuously consume pricy bottles of booze, perhaps giving the occasional nod toward the music in the background when it happens to catch their attention. The JazzArt series has been wildly successful, much to the chagrin of the evil gallery owners who pulled out at the last minute of planning early this year. Drawing an estimated 250 people to last month's show, at least 300 people are expected to pack this month's concert on the 3rd floor of MOCA to the brim. So get there early in order to get a seat, as there will only be about 100 chairs.

The show starts at 3pm, and is on Sunday, September 9 at MOCA- the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, located at People's Square, 231 W. Nanjing Rd. (People's Park gate 7). The concert will be held in the 3rd floor restaurant, so when you come in and they ask you for admission just tell them you're there for the jazz concert and they'll let you in free.

The sextet will feature most of the members of the regular sextet, including Lawrence Ku on guitar, Alec Haavik on sax, EJ Parker on bass, and the most recent addition Huang Jianyi. Lao Huang will be playing the Fender Rhodes he bought in the States before he moved back to Shanghai this spring...it sounds pristine! Since regular drummer Chris just left town for what will be a rather long chunk of time, replacing him for this Sunday's concert will be Nicholas McBride on the drums.

In other news about the sextet's regular Thursday shows at JZ Club, the next two Thursdays will see the band joined by Beijing drummer Xiao Dou, who has been swinging up a storm recently. After Xiao Dou heads back up to Beijing, Nicholas will take over the reins for the following weeks.

Sunday, September 9 at MOCA- the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, located at People's Square, 231 W. Nanjing Rd. (People's Park gate 7) 南京西路231号

An exhibition on Antoni Gaudi in Shanghai? It sounded too good to be true. Held in MoCA, from August 19th to October 5th, "Cosmos Gaudi, Architecture, Geometry and Design" is definitely worth the visit though.

On two floors, you will be guided through examples of his work, studies he made on different materials, furnitures of all shapes and sizes, to show you how he used geometrics and ergonomics to incorporate them into his constructions.

Two rooms are dedicated to broadcasting a documentary on his work in Spain (we sat watching it so intensely that only after a while did we realize it was in Spanish), and several panels on the different stages of his life (where you can learn, for example, that Gaudi died in a traffic accident, that some of his major works have been classified as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1984, or that Park Güell in Barcelona was designed for 60 families, but could never be completed due to financial reasons).

"Cosmos Gaudi" is a pleasant exhibition, well organized and full of information on Spain's great architectural designer. But if you have the opportunity to go to Barcelona to check out Gaudi's work for real, only then will the journey through "Cosmos Gaudi" be complete.

Photo from Regina loving Beijing.

"Cosmos Gaudi: Architecture, Geometry and Design"; Moca Shanghai, People's Park, 231 Nanjing West Road (上海当代艺术管，人民公园，南京西路231号). Tel: (21) 6327 9900. Email: info@mocashanghai.org. Open every day from 10am to 6pm (Wednesday: 10am to 10pm).