Power Station of Art

Shanghai Biennale

In the former Jiangnan Shipyard by the river sits the newly opened Power Station of Art, a 41,000 sq m space which since October has been home to the 9th Shanghai Biennale, the city’s biggest and most important celebration of contemporary international artists. It takes for this year’s theme Reactivation, including four sub-categories ‘resources’, ‘revisit’, ‘reform’, and ‘republic’, which according to the biennale’s head curator Qiu Zhijie together form a vast but fluid exploration of artists’ interactions with the public.

But what is special about this year’s exhibition besides its snazzy new location is the addition of City Pavilions, which focus on Shanghai’s interactions with international cities, stretching across the globe from Auckland to Mumbai, Peru and beyond. The Mumbai pavilion is exhibiting photojournalist Pablo Bartholomew’s striking images of the city in the 1970s and 80s, while the Sydney pavilion is showing the works of six contemporary Australian artists, and the Istanbul pavilion highlights the Westernisation of both Shanghai and Istanbul through a variety of mediums including sculpture and film. While there are 10 pavilions on site at PSA, 20 more will be scattered throughout the city so passersby can catch a glimpse or interact closely. On view through March 31, 2013.