Shanghai at an Angle

A couple of weeks ago, we visited the Shanghai exhibition held at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Although some of my classmates have already written about this exhibition on the blog, I wanted to write about my own experience.

Two days before our fieldtrip I injured my back. Needless to say, I was in a lot of pain and could barely walk. So, the day we went to visit the museum I was offered to be pushed around the exhibition on a wheelchair.

It was a very interesting experience looking at an exhibition from a wheelchair, when it’s designed for people of normal stature. Most of the artwork hanging on the walls I could appreciate, but some were too high, so I had to be pushed back to be able to see them. Some pieces were on display encased over tables, where it was very difficult for me to actually see what was in there because of the angle I could look from. What was very delighting to see on a wheelchair was the section in the exhibition where the museum was showing contemporary videos. The video exhibition is designed for people to sit and watch, as I can assess by all the chairs placed in auditorium mode in front of the screen. There, I felt comfortable appreciating the exhibition that was designed to be looked at from my angle.

Although I'm aware that most exhibition designs are created with the average walking person in mind, it got me thinking about all the people who cannot walk around a show as I did that day. Can we really design exhibitions that will accommodate both the walking viewer and the public in wheelchairs? Perhaps we should reconsider alternative angles of viewing artwork that are not necessarily in an upright standing position. We build museums and gallery spaces that are wheelchair accessible, but what about the exhibitions? I hope we can integrate all public into exhibition making, no matter from which physical position they may view artworks.

-- CLAUDIA SCHIDLOW

Shanghai Show

Liu Jianhua Can You Tell Me?

Exhibition Title: Shanghai
Location: Asian Art Museum 200 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102
Dates: February 5 - September 12, 2010

To further my review of the Asian Art Museum’s exhibition Shanghai, I would like to critic the organization of the exhibition. The overall mission of the exhibition is to portray the history and culture of Shanghai, however the division of the Shanghai exhibition into four sections: Beginnings (1850-1912), High Times (1912-1937), Revolution (1920-1976), and Shanghai Today (1980-present) provides a very limited view of Shanghai. The wall text for novice viewer of Chinese art provides little to no explanation of the work and therefore the viewer is left confused on the inclusion of each work in the exhibition. It requires background knowledge of the history of art in China to find the works interesting.

The placement of works within the exhibition detracts from the works themselves. In particular, the placement of Liu Jianhua’s Can You Tell Me? on the west end of North Court greatly from the work as the engravings on the books are barely legible as light streams down on the stainless steel books from the windows above. Can You Tell Me?, 2006, is an installation piece in which Liu Jianhua engraved two questions about the future of Shanghai in English, Mandarin, French, German, and Japanese onto stainless steel books suspended vertically from the wall. The questions range from humorous such as “Can Shanghai make the magic of David Copperfield come true, and move the Bund 100 meters backward to widen the Avenue?” to serious “Can Shanghai build the first welfare bank in the world to allow poor people to get money whenever they need?” The inclusion of Can You Tell Me? asks the viewer to contemplate the future of Shanghai and its global impact, however the message of the piece is lost as the placement of the piece underneath large windows hinders the viewers ability to read the engraved questions.

-- CHARLOTTE MILLER

Shanghai Revolution

Exhibition Title: Shanghai
Location: Asian Art Museum 200 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102
Dates: February 5 - September 12, 2010

I know next to nothing about Shanghai. Upon visiting the exhibition, Shanghai, at the Asian Art Museum, I was hoping to discover a lot more. It was a rather small exhibition organized historically and, I imagine, with the intention of illustrating the various art methods in different time periods. Much of the work was, for lack of better words, stereotypical to what Americans think of when asked about Asian Art. I was hoping the contemporary room would provide something to the contrary. In a way it did, but at the same time, there was not enough to see, as it was located in the smallest exhibition space.

As I continue with my contributions to this blog, I am writing from the perspective of my own personal growth and knowledge of the art world. I am working myself into comfort so the ideas that I formulate come from finding something particular to my journey. Though there were some noteworthy pieces in the show, I will leave that to my colleagues to discuss. What was fascinating to me was the Revolution area of this exhibition. It was not, however, for the content of the art, but for the process. I find it rather bizarre that I did not evaluate the space on aesthetic but mastery basically because I have experience with relief printmaking. If I did not know ahead of time that the space was dedicated to Revolutionary posters, I would have referred to it as the woodcut area. By this, I mean that I don’t know what was on the woodblock as I was mesmerized by the craftsmanship. I even brought it up with others with experience in the art form. For anyone who has ever done relief, they know the instability that can be associated with working with wood. There are various obstacles to master including, type of wood, size / quality of tools, chipping, etc. In addition, I wondered about the technology available to print makers in Shanghai during said time period. What sorts of supplies did they use to complete the print? I couldn’t focus on anything else. My mind was all encompassed by questioning the who, what, when, where, how of the process instead of the content. My big questions: Is this a regular occurrence with artists? Do they forget to see the aesthetic and narrow onto solely on the craft? Is it still considered aesthetic if the craft is what the viewer focuses on? Is art only subject to message and “prettiness”? That’s right, I’m asking you.

-- MELINA DE HOYOS