The exquisite wooden antique writing desk, the mottled sea cabin window, and the re-engraved editorial office of Liangyou Pictorial, these imprints of time are a dazzling combination in the Zhu Yizhan Art Museum, using the artistic language of ARTDECO to open the artistic journey of Shanghai urban archaeology.
On August 14th, "Thousand Sails Race--Hongkou · The "ART DECO" documentary exhibition "Zhu Yizhan Art Museum" kicked off at the Zhu Yizhan Art Museum. Through the sinking of the sea of history, looking for old images and old papers, combining historical images and current creations, using documents, artifacts and images to reconstruct the rich historical appearance of Hongkou ART DECO, discussing urban renewal and neighborhood revitalization, and inspiring people's thinking in the collision between historical relics and modern life.
A new perspective of Shanghai culture
Art Deco refers to the Art Deco movement, which first appeared in Paris in 1920 and has since become popular all over the world, reaching its peak in the thirties. As an art style, it is characterized by simplicity, brightness, attention to lines, colors, full of dynamic and positive charm. It responds to the needs of the times for machines and new materials, strives to dilute the conflict between art and industry, dissolve the traditional distinction between artists and craftsmen, and adapt design to the requirements of mass production.
Exhibition view. Labor Daily reporter Wang Weipeng Photography
Shanghai is the second largest city in the world in terms of the total number of existing Art Deco buildings, after New York. Art Deco has a fairly extensive presence in Shanghai. From tall buildings, elegant furniture, speeding trains, ingenious toys, to the commonplace month signs, billboards, paintings, movies, books, magazines, everywhere.
This exhibition is divided into 7 themed scenes with the artistic language of Art Deco, which is a positive practice to highlight Shanghai's cultural brand with rich international style, highlighting Chinese elements and showing the urban cultural connotation of Shanghai characteristics.
New practices in urban archaeology
Mr. Er Dongqiang is a famous artist in Shanghai, with a wide range of knowledge, accumulation, and deep research. More than 20 years ago, he has held art deco art photography and collection exhibitions in Shanghai, Tokyo, Miami and Melbourne, and has been widely acclaimed. The book "Shanghai Art Deco" shows the connection between Shanghai and Art Deco from many aspects, and interprets Shanghai's open, innovative, inclusive, modern, fashionable, radical, abundant and courageous character. He has received awards from professional organizations such as the American Institute of Architects, and his related achievements have been reported many times by Western media such as Time Magazine.
Exhibition view. Labor Daily reporter Wang Weipeng Photography
Today, he focuses his vision on Shanghai urban archaeology, and has carried out fieldwork in Hongkou for nearly a year, recording, researching and combing the context and ecological distribution under the urban physical space through a static system, dynamically integrating, inventorying and refining urban cultural resources, and using Shanghai urban archaeology to activate urban historical and cultural resources.
From the "glorious maritime era" on the first floor, the "classic Hongkou construction" on the second floor to the "advanced urban culture" on the third floor, the exhibition creates Shanghai's urban promotion big IP in three dimensions, and interprets the process of discovering the city, experiencing the city, and sharing the city through the artistic interpretation of "poetry and distance", practicing the pursuit of promoting the city with art, and comprehensively carrying out the re-mining of urban cultural resources, the rediscovery of the value of urban art, and the re-experience of urban life.
A new international style
Hongkou is known as "the birthplace of Shanghai culture, the source of advanced culture, and the gathering place of cultural celebrities". In recent years, Hongkou has continuously polished the business card of "three cultural places", as part of the action plan to promote the construction of a culturally strong area, and continued to comprehensively enhance the cultural soft power of the urban area through "social aesthetic education".
From a more basic and specific level, especially the many Art Deco style exhibits collected in Hongkou and manufactured in Hongkou, including furniture, household appliances, living utensils, posters, periodicals and books, "Thousand Sails Race" shows Hongkou's consistent international style and unique charm.
Exhibition view. Labor Daily reporter Wang Weipeng Photography
As the birthplace of Shanghai culture, Hongkou has a unique international vision, where China's first telephone is connected, the first electric light is lit here, and the first official cinema is born in Hongkou. In terms of accepting and promoting Art Deco, Hongkou also belongs to the high-density area distributed in Shanghai, and the art elements are widely distributed and integrated in all aspects.
More than 100 exhibits this time open an international window to understand Shanghai culture. The audience can interpret Hongkou's international vision from multiple aspects, angles and levels. American culture, Jewish culture is another path; Film culture, education culture, and publishing culture are another path. From every path you enter, you can see a colorful rainbow mouth.
The head picture shows the audience viewing the exhibition. Labor Daily reporter Wang Weipeng Photography