I visited the Biennale once last year shortly after it opened. I didn’t bring a camera at the time, and the paint smell in the venue was still very strong. I had always wanted to go back when I had the chance. Over the weekend, I checked and realized it ends on the 31st, so I could only go on Saturday~~~

This is the first time the Biennale has moved out of the cramped Art Museum and into the massive Power Station of Art, which was formerly the Shinan Power Plant, later converted into the Urban Future Pavilion during the World Expo, and has now become what it is today~~~ It’s huge inside, with exhibition areas spanning five floors: 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. The 5th floor has a large terrace and a casual dining restaurant, while the 1st floor has a café.

The official website of the Power Station of Art features information on this exhibition.360-degree panoramic images and introductions to various exhibits.

The exhibition on the 7th floor tells the story of the building’s past and present, as well as its renovation process. Unfortunately, the exhibitions on the 5th floor, 7th floor, and in the chimney have already been dismantled, leaving only the lower three floors. The photos were chosen somewhat randomly; they aren’t closely related to the artworks themselves but focus more on visual effects.

During the war, people descended by parachute, and locals used the parachutes to make various things, such as this dress.

This artwork illustrates the forms of communication between relatives in Hong Kong and Guangzhou during the Cultural Revolution.

The Lost Society Archive documents public facilities across Taiwan that were built by government departments at great expense through massive construction projects, yet have either never been used or are operating at a loss and have been left idle. They are colloquially known as “Mosquito Halls” because they now serve only to breed mosquitoes…

I really like both of the following works by Yasuzo Nishino: Becoming Wind, displayed on the terrace, and Memory of the Sky on the 2nd floor.

This piece is quite fun—a large glass sphere filled with water, with an impeller at the bottom that creates a vortex in the water.

This is also an amazing work. The positions of the feathers were first simulated on a computer, followed by precise calculations for the placement of the lights before actual installation. Spanning from the 5th floor down to the 1st, it is truly spectacular.

There is a terrace on the 5th floor offering views of the InterContinental Shanghai Expo across the Huangpu River, as well as the Puxi Expo Park area. There’s a casual dining restaurant up there; they seemed to be out of almost everything, so I ended up ordering carrot and celery juice, which was surprisingly delicious. I also ordered a chicken pie, which tasted like it came straight from the oven after being taken out of the freezer from a supermarket, but it wasn’t bad.

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Art Exhibition, Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai Tours