Shanghai Expo pavilions repurposed as art museums

Two years after the hustle and bustle of the Shanghai Expo, some pavilions have found their second lives serving the arts, local authorities announced Tuesday.

The crimson-colored China Pavilion had been transformed into a Chinese modern art museum named "China Art Museum, Shanghai," while the factory-shaped Pavilion of the Future on the other side of the Huangpu River was renovated as the "Power Station of Art," said Hu Jinjun, director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture, Radio, Film and TV, at a press conference on Tuesday.

The two repurposed landmarks will both open on Oct. 1, hosting a series of art exhibitions of top artists, Hu said.

The China Art Museum has a floor space of 160,000 square meters and an exhibition space of 70,000 square meters, or 10 times that of the existing Shanghai Art Museum, and it will be the permanent location of the Shanghai Art Museum, he said.

The museum's scale and facilities, including 27 exhibition halls, can be listed among the top museums in Asia, and its dimensions are very close to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, he said.

The museum will house the works of famous Chinese artists, including Lin Fengmian, Wu Guanzhong, Guan Liang and Cheng Shifa. It will also host collections from world-recognized museums.

As the first public museum of contemporary arts in the Chinese mainland, the Power Station of Art, covering more than 40,000 square meters with 12 halls, will mainly exhibit modern Chinese art made since 1980 and will be the main exhibition space for the Shanghai Biennial.

The two museums will be on trial operations during the week-long National Day holiday and only online reservations and group reservations will be accepted. The number of tourists will be limited to 10,000 and 6,000 daily for the China Art Museum and the Power Station of Art, respectively.

Line 8 of the Shanghai Metro will run through to the China Art Museum on Sept. 28.

The Shanghai World Expo was the first event of its kind to be held in a developing country. It attracted more than 200 participating countries, regions and international organizations, as well as 73 million visitors.

One year after the Expo concluded on Oct. 31, 2010, there was much speculation about the post-Expo development of the 5.28-square kilometer Shanghai Expo Park and complaints that it was not being used efficiently.

Shanghai authorities said the park will continue to be used for cultural purposes.