2021 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season

Artist: Various, Shanghai Urban Public Space Design Promotion Center
Location: Columbia Circle, Xinhua Community in Changning District, Cao Yang Community in Putuo District, Linfen Community in Jing'an District and representative communities in each administrative district in Shanghai.
Year: 2021
Researcher: Zhang Yujie

Shanghai has accumulated a wealth of experience in promoting and practicing the "15-minute Community Living Circle”. Under the theme of "15-minute Community Living Circle - People's City", the fourth Urban Space Art Season 2021 was organized concurrently in several communities in Shanghai, showcasing the achievements of communities in "pleasant to live in, work in, travel in, learn in, and raise in", including the exhibition area of Columbia Circle in Changning District, the two sample communities of Xinhua Road Subdistrict in Changning District and Caoyang Xincun Subdistrict in Putuo District, as well as other eighteen experiential communities.

For the first time, the "Cell Project" has entered the community as a public art section. Changning District Columbia Circle is located in Shanghai's Xinhua Road Historical and Cultural Landscape Area. It was once the Columbia General Association for the leisure and entertainment of expatriates in the 1920's. In 2016, Changning District cooperated with Vanke to carry out an overall renewal of the park, including the Columbia Country Club, the Naval Club, and the Sunke Villa, three historically-protected buildings in Shanghai, thirteen architectural spaces of different eras were repaired and reconstructed in May 2018, and then officially opened to the public. The exhibition is organized around three main themes: "15-minute Community Living Circle - People's City", "Community - Metaspace" and "Cell Project -Sub relationship", it presents the interpretation of the concept of "15-minute Community Living Circle", case studies and scenarios, creates six community meta-spaces, and implants seven public artworks at different points in the park.

For the theme exhibition, the viewpoint of the exhibition is shifted from grand urban planning to micro community scenes, displaying a more smoky and grounded scene of life. With many preserved buildings, Columbia Circle has less space for exhibition, so it sets up several pavilions, Service Boxes and public artworks in the park, trying to let the audience experience the atmosphere of the art season under the urban renewal through decentralized and mobile displays.The Xinhua Community in Changning District and the Caoyang Community in Putuo District have actively promoted the practice of "15-minute community living sphere" in the past few years. The Xinhua community has carried out renewal initiatives such as the " Care for the Elderly Estate" and the "Foreign Alley". The Cao Yang community, which has a history of 70 years in the 20th century, has carried out micro-renewal measures such as the complete renovation of Cao Yang Village, the construction of Baixi Park, and the improvement of the Huanbang quality. Specifically, the "Better Xinhua" exhibition includes a prologue (an overview of Xinhua's "15-minute Community Living Circle" and this curatorial exhibition), five thematic units, and two special projects, organized relevant exhibitions and interactive activities from the aspects of "living in peace, working in happiness, traveling in joy, learning in fun, and raising in pleasure"; and two special programs are the " Everyone's Neighborhood Program" and the "Cellular Program" of public art.

Nearly 1,000 professionals and community residents joined in the planning of community building, and more than 300 volunteers participated in the exhibition services, further promoting the improvement and enhancement of the community life circle. The project invites various professional and technical teams, including planners, architects, landscape architects, artists, social scholars, media people, etc., to listen to the voices of all parties through spatial remodeling, exhibitions, displays and public activities, so as to make the communication between professionals and the general public, the designers, the implementers and the administrators more adequate, and thus to discuss and build a better community together.

Each of the seven curatorial teams has planned a variety of local workshops and public activities. In the Living Well Unit, children from the community were invited to design the community park and draw art for the windows; in the Working Well Unit, many local merchants were invited to curate their own exhibitions; in the Traveling Well Unit, the team of Jan Gehl, an international planning expert, was invited to carry out a field survey of the community's slow-moving system with the community; in the Raising Well Unit, the designers were invited to work with residents to develop age-friendly and convenient facilities; and in the Learning Well Unit, the principal of the community school was invited to discuss how the school district can be more integrated into community development. The use of public language in specialized exhibitions continues to increase, enhancing public participation. For example, in the thematic exhibition of the Living Well Unit, the sound installation Resonance collects the opinions and suggestions of Xinhua residents on housing renewal. Visitors can listen and throw a ball to express their level of agreement.

The interactive AR installation My District is Renewing invites the audience to participate in the design of materials and colors of the facade of the old buildings through the simple operation of tablets, so that the general public has the opportunity to be a designer.In the Cao Yang neighborhood, the newly renovated Baixi Park, the first "High Line Park" in Shanghai, featured a series of thematic exhibitions and lectures that demonstrated the characteristics of the Cao Yang neighborhood's "15-minute Community Life Circle" as well as the past and present of Baixi Park. A variety of activities and projects were also launched in Cao Yang Village, Community Cultural Center and Gui Xiang Fang. In addition, eighteen experiential communities, including those in the central city and new towns, launched projects that matched the highlights of their respective communities, and all the participating communities collectively wrote about the vibrant initiatives and development under the organic renewal of the city. For example, the Jing'an Linfen Community Public Art Live Exhibition was organized by the People's Government of Jing'an District, undertaken by the Planning and Natural Resources Bureau of Jing'an District and the Linfen Road Subdistrict Office of Jing'an District, and curated by the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts of Shanghai University. Around Lane 380 Linfen Road, 17 groups of public art works were placed in the subdistricts of Anye Road and Linfen Road, focusing on the theme of "The Moment - Better Linfen", displaying the construction of 15-minute Linfen Community Living Circle in different forms. A series of activities such as the "Most Beautiful Building Groups Exhibition Project", "Public Painted Walls Beautification Exhibition", "Community Public Art Action Plan", "Community Art Gallery Video Creation Project", "Relax and Play Art - Community Children's Art Education Participation Project", etc. were carried out. Let art enter the community and people's lives, build warm value recognition and regeneration, and form a warm living public space.

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The project is organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China in cooperation with the Shanghai Municipal Government, and organized by the Shanghai Planning and Resources Bureau and the Shanghai Cultural and Tourism Bureau along with the People's Government of Changning District and the People's Government of Putuo District. It formed a model of cooperation, participation, and co-construction and co-management between the governments of the districts, the artists, and the residents in the area, and is executed by the Shanghai Urban Public Art Promotion Center. It is led by the Shanghai Planning and Resource Bureau together with the planning and resource departments and subdistrict offices of the districts in which it is located, hand in hand with the relevant governmental management departments for joint planning, and the professional team for cooperation and implementation. Through project cooperation, the resources of the government, enterprises, citizens and other social sectors are integrated, and all kinds of facilities and spaces in the 15-minute Community Living Circle are jointly constructed and shared by the government and the public.

In the 2021 Space Art Season project, the city manager has changed the traditional practice of top-down and overseeing everything, and has focused on strengthening the policy formulation and institutional guarantee, building an open and collaborative platform, and attracting the participation of more social actors. In addition, strengthened the popularization of planning and public education to enhance the literacy of the entire population and stimulate the spirit of civic ownership.With the community as the spatial carrier, by means of construction practice, art intervention, exhibition display and community creation, a number of living circle projects with high degree of display and local characteristics are presented, actively promoting the construction of the city's 15-minute Community Living Circle, and building the soft power of the city.The project conveyed the concept of "15-minute Community Living Circle" to the public in an experiential and topical manner, demonstrated the practical process of planning actions, attracted residents of different ages to participate in community building activities and community renewal projects. Residents gained a deeper understanding of the concept of "People's City", creating a favorable atmosphere for all people to participate in building the "15-minute Community Living Circle".The project also adopted a variety of forms to encourage public participation, for example, in the "Shanghai Xinhua Community Sports Center Renewal Proposal" public group call for proposals, through the establishment of the "Golden Idea Award" to encourage and support the participation of the public, to increase the connection between the public and the community viscosity. Upon completion of the call for proposals, an offline exhibition was organized. The designer met with residents, and public voting on the professional design proposals was opened simultaneously. The design of the Xinhua Community Sports Center was finally selected by combining public opinion and expert review. By inviting residents to participate, co-construction, co-management and sharing of various forms of community operation to cultivate public awareness.After the end of the 2021 Urban Space Art Season, the organizer commissioned a professional organization to conduct research on the public satisfaction and social influence of the event, which formed the 2021 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season Public Satisfaction and Social Influence Survey Project Report.

Progress Agency