Shanghai Library East

Starting off as a place for curated collections of resources and writings, the library has now evolved into a cultural institution that exists in multiple timelines simultaneously. It has also been referred to as a “third space” – a highly personal space that sits somewhere between home and office. The Shanghai Library East aims not only to record and preserve human history and cultural treasures but also to provide a shared, inclusive and open platform to encourage mutual understanding, where the past and the present can provide a foundation for imagining the future. And public art plays a significant role in that.

Public art is an integral part of urban cultural planning, it highlights a city’s unique character and shapes its cultural branding, bringing vital energy to the city and its dwellers. Public art is also one of the most effective ways to promote the popularisation of art and stimulate human interaction and communication while providing aesthetic enjoyment.

With all that in mind, UAP’s art strategies team decided to use the evolution of text throughout Chinese civilization as a curatorial thread. From hard stone tablets to light paper, and from movable type printing to the appearance of digital typefaces, the evolution of the vectors of knowledge is tangible and orderly, yet they all pass on the flow of knowledge, breaking through the limits of time and space, and inspiring generations in unexpected ways. The methods and content for “reading” are constantly evolving, as seen in the artworks exhibited.