SH Contemporary was back at it again this year with the 5th Contemporary Art Fair. Quickly becoming one of the most prestigious art fairs in Asia, this year was no exception as numerous local and international artists descended on Shanghai from September 7th-10th to appreciate and share their best pieces inside the exquisite Shanghai Exhibition Center on Nanjing West Road. Renowned galleries James Cohan and Pace Beijing had exhibits while the spotlight sections this year were the Asia Pacific Photography Prize and a series of special contemporary art projects strewn across the venue from non-profit organizer ArtHub.Though the hall was never packed, for a Friday afternoon there was a respectable crowd of youth with DSLRs, greying men of assumed importance in suits, foreigner mothers with their families in tow, tourists, and Chinese of all ages. more ›

Following the news that 696 Weihai Lu complex is up for sale to property development, the writers of Bound Editorial hope to commemorate the space through conducting an interview series of the more prominent members of its art community. Below, an interview with the owners of AroundSpace gallery. more ›

Tired of stuffy Bund art shows, the confusing maze of M50 galleries and artists you’ve never heard of but prices that make you think you should? Prefer cheap booze, slammin’ music and artists doing their thing live and in the flesh? Then we think it’s time you were introduced to Bree Harrison, Executive Producer of Dyce Productions, and her idea of artistic hand-to-hand combat. more ›

If your work schedules have been as crazy as ours - what with all the re-arranging from the mid-autumn festival - then you’ll be in need of a big blow out weekend! Earlier in the week we gave you our Midweek Music Preview for all the essential live music gigs going on until Sunday. Our calendar is always available for your perusal and to make planning your weekend that little bit easier; here are our top picks for the forthcoming weekend - including an extremely rare opportunity to get a blessing from a monk. more ›

Hunter Braithwaite writes about attending the openings of two exhibits now showing at some of Shanghai's best photography galleries: more ›

More photos on the Shanghaiist Contribute page. To see your photos on our Contribute page, use Flickr and tag your photos “shanghaiist”. Or you can email your photos to photos@shanghaiist.com and they will automatically appear on our site (and here). more ›

From Tai Kang Lu to M50 and beyond, Shanghai is abuzz with creative parks and hubs. One of the most recent to spring up, 800SHOW, is a one-time steel factory spanning 20,000 sqm in the heart of Jing'an District. This week, we caught up with logon, the architectural firm behind the renovations, to get the inside scoop on 800SHOW and understand this interesting side of Shanghai’s never-ending urban development. more ›

We were sad to see National Day celebrations come and go in the blink of an eye, after months of ridiculous and awesome preparation. But now we've found an outlet for our grief - The Leo Gallery is in the process of showing a new exhibit, "1949-2009: 60 Years of Chinese Contemporary Art." more ›

A man with a kid on his shoulder is disappearing behind a gate leading to a narrow alley behind Julu lu. He is apparently heading towards The Studio, the art gallery and creative space which lies squeezed inside a maze of low brick houses. A couple of minutes later more parents show up, leading their children by the hand into this little bubble of art in the heart of the French Concession. more ›

Our third year of crashing the best art parties for Shanghai's ShContemporary art fair is approaching, and we can barely contain our excitement. If you are going to any art event this year in Shanghai, this is the one not to miss: ShContemporary is only open to the public for TWO DAYS (September 12 and 13) and it's Asia’s most dynamic and international annual contemporary art fair. more ›

What is contemporary art in China? And in what way do we perceive the rapidly disappearing Mao murals throughout the ever changing city of Shanghai? Conceptual artist Pia Johanson and street photographer Elke Martini are investigating and documenting these topics in "Mao for Sale", an exhibition that just opened at The Studio. more ›

Already established in the Detroit art scene, Sara Blakeman’s first show in China is a promising start of things to come for the Shanghai art scene from the petite American. Aptly named, Dance This Mess Around, the exhibition showcases cutesy paper constructions, embodying Blakeman’s self described “wonder and frustrations” with China: more ›

• As Chinese art market crashes, many artists applaud [csmonitor.com] "Chinese artists were seen as ATMs," says Jerome Sans, director of the nonprofit Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing. "Maybe now they'll stop creating for the market and create for the mind."
• Wine producers pin hopes on China in tough times [AFP] "Wine producers are pinning their hopes for growth during the financial crisis on a country that only recently entered the ranks of the world's top ten wine drinking countries — China. Wine bars and speciality wine stores have flourished in Shanghai, which prides itself of being the nation's most cosmopolitan city, and have quickly become part of the landscape."
• Reports: China auto sales 1.03 million in March [Forbes] "Preliminary figures show auto sales in China rose to at least 1.03 million in March, exceeding U.S. sales for the third month in a row, state media reports said Wednesday. Sales data from 14 major auto makers, accounting for roughly 90 percent of total sales, totaled 1.026 million, the state-run newspaper Shanghai Securities News said, citing Chen Bin, head of the Department of Industry at China's main economic planning agency."

• On Foot in the Mystical Mountains of Yunnan [NYTimes.com] "It was for a moment like this that I had made the long journey last fall to northern Yunnan Province from my home in Beijing — which has the dubious distinction of being both one of the most polluted and one of the most populous cities in the world. Back home, looking at a map of the rugged Tibetan areas of western China, my eyes had fallen on the deep river valleys of Yunnan, where three of Asia’s great waterways come tumbling down from their glacial sources in the mountains of the high Tibetan plateau."
• Getty’s $100,000 Tab for Chinese Photos Signals Bargain Time [Bloomberg.com] "Wang Qingsong’s theatrical, large- scale photographs have been a hit with collectors, rising in price to $864,943 from $40,000 since 2006. Now, with prices for Chinese contemporary art eroding, the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has purchased three prints by Wang and six by Hai Bo, who contrasts photographs of friends and relatives taken during China’s Cultural Revolution with their recent portraits."
• Sichuan Earthquake Memorial Museum To Cost 2.3 Billion [chinaSMACK] "The complete plans for the Beichuan National Earthquake Ruins Museum that has been the subject of much attention by citizens from all walks of life have been released, with a preliminary budget requiring a ~2.3 billion yuan total investment/cost. The moment the design plan was introduced, it immediately caused huge amounts of heated discussion from all walks of life in society. Some netizens have questioned whether using vast amounts of money to construct a museum amounts to an “image project.”"

France24 reports:

The buoyant market for Chinese contemporary art over the last few years has made millionaires in the country. But the financial crisis has led to a massive slump in demand for works.

From November 23rd through December 15th, Ke Center for the Contemporary Arts will be hosting Yoko Ono's first ever solo exhibition in Shanghai. Called Yoko Ono-Fly, the show will present the artist's diverse work from throughout her long career. Ono herself will be at the exhibition opening, which takes place on the evening of November 22nd at 7pm (and which requires advance reservations). And according to the press release, there is more publicity coming your way: more ›

With three major art events opening in Shanghai this week, (ShContemporary 08, Shanghai Biennale and Shanghai Art Fair), September is an important month for artists, galleries, art collectors and unemployed Art History students.  And alongside these big events, most galleries in Shanghai are also hosting special exhibitions with the hopes of attracting the attention of the international art collectors who are swarming the city. more ›

The Chinese contemporary art craze is still in full swing and this time it has hit Russia. A show called 'China, Forward!', is currently being staged at TSUM -- a luxury department store (similar to Plaza 66, we reckon) in Moscow, reports Russia Today. more ›

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. more ›

Going to Beijing is a little like embarking on a Chinese safari - we see rare species (honest dedicated government officials), fascinating landmarks (Olympic Buildings, formerly known as Hutongs), and even blood-curdling adventure (Ring Road traffic at 5 pm). more ›

Since it first opened last fall, the Museum of Contemporary Art in People's Park has put on some flashy exhibitions and is known more (in Shanghaiist's opinion) for their trendy parties than thought provoking art. Saturday's launch party for the China addition to Nokia's Connect to Art was no exception. Connect to Art is Nokia's ongoing project that allows contemporary artwork to be downloaded on to your phone, making art more accessible to a larger part of the public. Although the Chinese Connect to Art project includes five of the best contemporary Chinese artists (Yang Fudong, Zhang Peili, Feng Mengbo, Ai Weiwei and Xu Bing) the party ended up being another fashionable, bass thumping mess. The main attraction was not the artists but a group of Italian "sound artists" mixing beats on MoCA's deck while blinding the audience with flashing headlights. The five artists' works were shown on small screens against one wall but the beautiful people were more interested in the free alcohol than the artwork. more ›