Shanghai’s MadeIn Gallery has moved from the long dominant art compound at 50 Moganshan Lu (M50), to new premises at West Bund, where the Xuhui district government is gradually establishing a new art district. With spaces like ShanghArt and Aike-Dellarco already having made a similar move to West Bund, MadeIn’s arrival is a potential sign of a larger geographic shift in Shanghai’s art scene.
Created in 2014 out of the artist Xu Zhen’s company of the same name, MadeIn Gallery inherited the mantel and premises of BizArt, a non-profit arts organisation that Xu co-founded in 1998. “Being one of the first art institutions to move into the M50 area in 2002, we’ve witnessed the growth of the area and grown alongside it,” says the gallery’s director Vigy Jin. She adds that the factors behind the decision to relocate include “the size of the space, the location, and the environmental atmosphere and cultural policy”. She adds that the river view is a bonus, as well as its relative proximity to MadeIn’s studios in the southern suburb of Songjiang. The new 320 sq m gallery space on the first floor of 2879 Longteng Avenue opened on 8 September with Information Sculpture Superhighway featuring 15 artists including Xu, Miao Ying, Feng Mengbo and Yang Zhenzhong.
Located along the southwestern bank of the Huangpu River, West Bund is the home of private museums such as the Long, Yuz and Shanghai Centre of Photography, as well as several commercial spaces, and the third edition of its art and design fair will be held in November. It has its own freeport storage facility, more cultural centres are under construction, and its directors have expressed ambitions to attract more galleries from M50 as well as abroad.
M50's converted factories are owned by the state enterprise Shanghai Textile Company, and although the building is a popular landmark, the galleries and studios there enjoy no official status or support. “M50 and West Bund have their own different positions,” Jin says, “the future developments will surely also be different, which will bring rich and diverse forms of art and culture to Shanghai.”