Independent spaces to the street: Participatory art in Shanghai

Abstract

Abstract The culture of accelerated museum building and promotion of contemporary art in Shanghai has created a spill-over effect in the upsurge of independent art spaces and self-organized artistic projects on the streets. Yet, participatory art in China that directly engages the viewers has its own prescriptions for ‘publicness’ that does not readily conform to western concepts of site-specificity or the public sphere. By foregrounding cross-disciplinary methods and years of primary field work, this research is a dedicated and vigilant observation of how a new generation of artists are incorporating the community as an integral aspect of their practice to expand the discourse of contemporary art in Shanghai. This article sets the context by providing a brief art historical evaluation of art outside museums and institutions as they emerged in the West and in China. Then, three contemporary case studies in Shanghai are examined to contend that artistic producers who recognise the shifting identities and needs of the public are interrogating the value and potentiality of socially engaging art to expand the cultural literacy for members of its community.