Shanghai, 11 July 2010

Shanghai’s State of the Creative Arts at the Opening of the Rockbund Art Museum

Cross-posted from net critique

The Rockbund Art Museum, situated on the Northern tip of the Shanghai Bund area, opened May 2010 in conjunction with the 2010 Shanghai World Expo (expected visitors 70 million). The museum is part of a redevelopment area and is housed in the 1932 art deco building of the Royal Asiatic Society, once location of a natural history museum. As part of larger real estate development, still under construction at the time of the opening, the museum will fit into a most exclusive part of the inner city. According to the brochure of the Rockbund Investment Corporation that also owns the new museum the ‘urban renaissance’ at the birthplace of modern Shanghai celebrates ‘the glamour of heritage reborn.’ The aim is ‘to create the most elite luxury area in Shanghai.’ Rockbund will re-establish the northern tip of the Bund as a hub for arts and culture. Apartments are sold with the promise ‘to live in the lap of glamour.’