Rotating Shanghai I was started by Shanghai-based writer and curator Liu Congyun as a project that aims at bringing Chinese art to wider audiences, facilitating communication and discuss on contemporary art from diverse culture backgrounds.

The project, which travelled first to the US, is also open to creative exhibition space and concept.

We, perhaps this time, should try to understand the four Shanghai-based artists' works in a context of today's China, though the artists themselves never give us such restriction. After a well-known three decades economic development, the country seems under a pressure of transformation both cultural and systematical, while the society tensioned by changing and uncertain, institutional innovation and direction vague, cultivates the so-called contemporary Chinese art. To some extent, the artists' works question the term of "contemporary", its hidden meaning inherited from that of the West. If there is a story line for "contemporary Chinese art", it may links first to the society and the very unique cultural traditions of its own.

ABOUT SPAD
SPAD is dedicated to promoting art while facilitating urban development in emerging or underserved neighborhoods.  Converting storefronts into functional, alternative art galleries, SPAD confronts inner-city blight and strengthens community relations, while showcasing cutting-edge art.  Visit their website at http://www.sanpabloarts.org/