Trip Report#1 UCCA Edge
Location: 2F, No.88 Xizang Bei Lu, Jingan District, Shanghai, China
Exhibitions:
- Becoming Andy Warhol; (discussed in this report)
- The City Tells It All: The Construction and Dispersal of Urban Imageries;
- Urban Theater: A Comedy in Four Acts
ARCHITECTURE
UCCA is located in an office building in the Jingan district.
The building is designed by New York-based architects SO – IL. The architecture is new, and consists of several geometrical shapes, having a modern style. The big poster on the wall shows that there is an art institution in the building. However, the entrance of the institution is somehow not easy to find as there is only an escalator to access the institution. The style of the building and the interior design of UCCA is both simple but stylish, suitable for its artistic function.
Museum experience
When I entered the institution, I liked the white walls and decorations, but there was no sign of welcoming but only the guard asking for a green code (but there may be no choice under the COVID). I bought the ticket at the front desk, and the staff there is friendly and helpful.
The exhibition is informative with a lot of exhibits from the Andy Warhol museum, showing the personal life and creations of Andy Warhol. And it’s designed in time order. One really good thing about the exhibition is that the walls in different halls are painted in different colors – representing they are different sections of the exhibition. And all the colors seemed to be selected carefully, fitting the exhibits while having great aesthetics. I’m wondering if there were any underlying principles for the color selection since the wall color actually influences the audience’s concentration at an unconscious level.
One of my favorite halls in the exhibition is the hall that shows the experimental films made by Andy Warhol. The hall is decorated with silver metal. And used different methods in showing different stages of film-making. Old-fashioned televisions with earphones are used to show the movies. Some photographic films of the actors, actresses and Andy Warhol are displayed in the center of the room. Also, some cameras are displayed. Higher on the wall, some of the episodes of the movies are projected, creating an immersive atmosphere. When I stepped up to the second floor, I found that I actually see those episodes more clearly and realized that this design created a multilayered experience for the audience.
Some of the captions were printed and stuck on the wall. While the captions for bigger-sized works were displayed on metal boards, which I think was a good design – the audience can read the caption easily.
There was a bench in the halfway and there was also a step near the artwork wallpaper for the audience to rest. Both of these are considerable.
Brand and design
UCCA edge has its website. The design of the website is concise and nice, showing the contemporary art characteristics of this institution.
https://ucca.org.cn/en/exhibitions/ucca-edge//
Also, the public WeChat account of UCCA edge shares a lot of information about exhibitions, events, and the story behind the exhibits, which I think is helpful for audiences.
Audiences
Most of the audience on the day I visit there were young people and most of the people didn’t stay long in front of one exhibit. I think that might partly be because Andy Warhol is famous among young generations for his commercial and artistic fame, and his works are not hard for ordinary people to understand. Most of the exhibits were just bold and attractive, except the experimental films and photography. But since the films and photography are not as famous as his printing works, most people paid less attention to them.
I followed one group of people with a guide for a while. The introduction presented by the guide was not that professional from my point of view, since she mixed too many personal ideas with the introduction. From my perspective, the guidance needs to be neutral and easy to approach, especially when it has educational purposes.
Interactions
The exhibition has special audio guides. There are three audio guides recorded by different celebrities – Nana Ouyang for the mandarin version, Pengpeng for the children’s version, and G Sengdong(a bilibili uploader) for the Shanghainese version. I think it was an interesting attempt to invite celebrities for the audio guide, especially adding the Shanghainese version for some local specialties. Personally, I don’t really like seeing some famous people’s names that I’m not that enthusiastic about in art exhibitions, but it is ok for me to just listen to them. So this innovation in the audio guide is not that attractive for me.
There was a music interaction installation in the exhibition, with the companion with Tencent Music Entertainment. However, the installation is simply several music players with earphones for the audience to listen to the music using Andy’s works for cover and a special song made for the exhibition. Compared to interactive design, I recognize it more as a commercial activity for profit.
Along with the exhibition, there is a series of workshops and lectures closely related to the exhibition topic. The workshop is trying to imitate one of Andy’s films and create chances for the participants’ self-reflection, which I think is really great. And the lecture invites scholars from different colleges to share their opinions about gender in relation to Andy Warhol’s work. This can be a good chance to combine academic theories with artistic practices, as well as introduce them to more people who are interested in them.
Facilities
From my perspective, the exhibition has an obvious shortcoming point. That is, the design of the visiting route is a little bit confusing. As there were so many exhibits, it was not easy for the audience to find the right order when they first enter a hall. And that actually made me turn around or retrace my steps a lot of times.
The gift shop of UCCA edge is well-designed with a lot of nice products.
Cultural Contribution
This exhibition has a good story-telling function in showing the artist’s life and ideas. As it divides the life of Andy Warhol into different periods with different typical works. The exhibition not only shows the representative works of Andy Warhol but also exhibits his experimental works that are not that famous as well as some photography that shows his personal life and social relationships. These practices present a 3-D version of Andy Warhol’s life.