Dumpling shop satisfies hunger for culture
Print Edition
A tiny street art gallery in a converted dumpling shop on Yuyuan Road has become popular for art installations and high-tech gadget shows.
The non-profit gallery The Bun, also known as 9m2 or 9 square meters, attracts visitors day and night with its ideal location on a sidewalk in Changning District.
The three young artists who renovated the space change the theme every three months. A new exhibition on nature and the ocean opened last week. It features hundreds of hanging acrylic blue tubes and a 4K projector that can turn the glasshouse into an underwater world for the evening.
“We want to create pleasant experiences for visitors and residents, while raising public awareness of nature and society,” said Wang Zhiguang, co-founder of The Bun art project. Wang and his partners, formerly organizers of mass art exhibitions and concerts, took over the derelict shop in August and started the renovation.
Though it looks like an illegal structure, the small house near the entrance of an old residential community has been legally registered for over half a century, Wang said. Creater, the firm in charge of an ongoing revamp of the road, rented the site and invited Wang’s team to host exhibitions.
The dumpling shop has been moved into the new Yuyuan Public Market nearby, where residents can buy traditional Shanghai breakfast foods, get new keys cut or fix a broken umbrella. The market will officially open on February 28.
Redecorations took two months. The artists removed the roof and walls, infested with mice, and replaced them with glass.
“I watched the renovation and was curious about what the small house would be used for,” said Ma Zhongren, a senior resident living in nearby Hongye Garden. “It turned out to be a beautiful space and I bring my grandson here every day,” Ma said.
The inaugural exhibition in October 2018 featured colorful neon stripes that turned the house into a glowing box every evening. “Glowing Out Loud” invited visitors to play with reflector plates installed on the wall to change the pattern of the light.
“We find it meaningful to bring modern art to the residents in old neighborhoods who may have few chances to see art exhibitions at museums,” said Wang. He prefers to sit inside the house when it is open to the public between 3pm and 7pm every Wednesday to Sunday and talk with visitors.
For the second exhibition during the fallen leaves season, the artists decorated the house with flowers, tree bark and other plants. The glass roof was covered with leaves. Over 100 visitors entered the small room every day on weekends.
“The light and affordable materials created a magic space here. People are so welcome to come in and interact with the art installation,” said Paul Leavy, a tourist from Toronto.
The artists have a bigger vision for future exhibitions. They aim to involve more high-tech, artificial intelligence sensors, 5G network and binocular cameras.
In one of their visions, the lamps in the house will change color automatically according to the clothes of visitors, while a 3D virtual receptionist will talk with them.
The group is negotiating with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to use new inventions in the space to help realize the vision of artists, while gathering public opinion and seeking cooperation agreements for new technology.
“We want to turn exhibition spaces like 9m2 into public labs where art and science are integrated,” said Huang Zhiwei, vice president of the Shanghai Creater Industrial Co. Popular art installations in The Bun will be copied in other company projects citywide.
The project is part of a campaign by Jiangsu Road subdistrict and Creater to perform micro-revamps in old residential communities along the road. There are 108 historical villas along the road, including many former residences of celebrities, such as missile and space scientist Qian Xuesen (1911-2009) and pianist Gu Shengying (1937-1967).
The road — which dates back to 1911, the final year of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) — runs through the districts of Changning and Jing’an. In recent decades it has been shortened to its current length of 800 meters.
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