TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES> < SRELLEVART RORRIM SEITIC

From April 17th to May 16th, MoCA Shanghai collaborates with Venice International University in Italy to present the exhibition "TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES" echoing the spirit of the 60th Venice Biennale’s theme "Foreigners Everywhere". The exhibition is curated by Miriam Sun, Director of MoCA Shanghai, and Giuliana Benassi, an Italian curator. The participating artists are among the new strengths doing contemporary art from China and Italy, including Fu Tong, Gabriele Silli, Guo Fei, H.H. Lim, Jin Wang, Josè Angelino, Matteo Nasini, Oliviero Rainaldi, Qiu Anxiong, Rä di Martino, Shi Chengdong, Yang Yongliang (listed alphabetically).

Cities, as geographic, social, and cultural spaces, contain numerous layers of value that are not readily apparent. This exhibition, centered around the theme of "TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES", is set within the context of Venice International University, a space dedicated to international exchanges of knowledge. The exhibition aims to ingeniously construct a conceptual art route of "The Traveler’s City – A Spiritual Mirror Image of One’s Self and the Foreigner", weaving a dynamic narrative with two threads, one apparent and the other concealed. By employing the non-linear presentation of artworks by Chinese and Italian artists and in diverse artistic languages (i.e., the apparent thread), the exhibition intends to prompt travelers to keep raising questions to the city, awakening them at points of art and guiding them to seek the reflection of themselves in the mirror within the replies from the city (i.e., the concealed thread). Thus, the purpose of the exhibition is not only for travelers to find answers to the city’s visual enigmas but also to outline their self-reflection and encourage their further contemplation on interpersonal relationships. As Calvino wrote in a dialogue between the Kublai Khan and Marco Polo in his novel, Invisible Cities, "As to the City of Utopia, even though we have not discovered it, we cannot abandon our efforts to seek for it."