Future thrills

In 2010 Shanghai (上海 ) held the World Expo that was given a lot of attention. People came from all over the world for business. But we must not forget the cultural side: Shanghai also hosted the Shanghai Biennale with the theme “Rehearsal”.

The idea was to make people think, to invite people into the start of processes.

Themes proposed were large and eternal and may be more important for China than for the visitor from outside: relationships between individuals, between individuals and society, and between people and nature. Strong and important artists were invited to participate, many obviously very critical of aspects of modern society.

So a large canvas was laid out.

The Chinese were obviously hoping to start processes where the Oriental city of Shanghai takes the role of a world theater, so as to be part of a common future. The worldwide challenges for society are many and often the same everywhere: using technology well, mastering the forces of massive urbanization, be environmentally friendly, give people the chance to develop well, make the urban society a wellfunctioning machine – in all its diverse aspects.

So the curators staged a fantastic display, giving the artists an opportunity to rehearse ideas for the future of cities – the culture, the buildings, the management, the technology, the living.

The Biennale was linked to the Expo via a common theme – innovation.

The exhibition was truly thought-provoking, also depressing, but humoristic and enlightening – broad and challenging – it was all there. The displays were impressive, full of quality of spirit, rich in content, well made.

The people of Shanghai came in large numbers – it was often quite full – perhaps with an intent of broadening their own horizon, to see the world forming. Most were very young – the future? – very attentive, interested, thinking.

It was all very professional – on an international level – and should bode well for the future of the Chinese and for us.

Go to China – the development is in full swing.

And the food is not half bad either – why not try some Beijing (北京) duck?

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 12:46 pm and is filed under What humans do. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.