Uncooperative Contemporaries

In 2000, Shanghai was a site for multiple contested understandings of art and exhibition at a transitional moment for 'global' contemporary art. This book explores what was at stake for modernity, contemporaneity, nationalism, internationalism and globalism in the city at the time; while looking back from diverse perspectives today. Landmark artist-led initiatives are analysed alongside the state-led Shanghai Biennale, then in its third edition, with selected online projects, public interventions and commercial initiatives further complicating the landscape. Contributions by Jane DeBevoise, Lee Weng Choy, Carol Yinghua Lu and Liu Ding, Mia Yu, Hou Hanru, Wu Hung and Ai Weiwei, among others, unpack questions such as: what contrasting modes of public address were developed? How did visitors engage at the time, and how may we engage afresh now? And how might this moment in Shanghai index wider transformations of the art field?Text: Jane DeBevoise, Lee Weng Choy, Carol Yinghua Lu and Liu Ding, Mia Yu, Hou Hanru, Wu Hung and Ai Weiwei, among others