Thirty-five sculptures by 31 artists from 10 countries are showcased at the Jing'an International Sculpture Project, a biennial event jointly hosted by the municipal administration for planning and natural resources and the Jing'an district in Shanghai.
While most of the sculptures are on exhibition at the Jing'an Sculpture Park, six pieces are placed at urban squares, parks and other landmark locations by the Suzhou Creek and the Nanjing Road West.
This year the exhibition has been curated by UCCA Lab, a branch institution of the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art. Philip Tinari, director of the center, hoped to leverage the institution's distinctive global perspective to achieve new breakthroughs in the selection as well as the quality of the exhibits of the JISP, which features 22 new commissioned works for the occasion.
Since the first installment of JISP in 2010, the biennial exhibition has become a renowned public art brand of Shanghai, said Gong Mingjun, deputy director of the Shanghai Landscaping & City Appearance Administrative Bureau. This year the exhibition features the theme Echoes among us, exploring the harmonious co-existence between art, the city, and the people.
France is the guest-of-honor of JISP this year in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic ties between China and France. Among the featured artists from France are Martial Raysse, one of the most celebrated French artists in the world; Marc Fornes, an architect specializing in large-scale, site-specific structures; and Pablo Reinoso, who brought to Shanghai a work of his signature Spaghetti Bench series.
The exhibition is ongoing until the end of the year.