Bas Van Beek in Yi Ou Lai
A Pioneering Exhibition for Reimagined Design
Duration: 2017 April 11 – August 30
Venue: Younit, Shanghai Yi Ou Lai Shopping Village, No.88 East Shendi Road, Pudong District, Shanghai
Together with Dutch designer and artist Bas van Beek, and the world-renowned Van Abbemuseum, the Netherlands, we have created a new exhibition and visual experience at YOUnit, located within the Village. In this unique collaboration, the exhibition shows the transformation of graphic design into industrial and architectural design inspired by connections between Chinese/Asian and European traditions, the Modern and the Classic, as well as art and fashion.
Commenting on this partnership with Shanghai Village, Bas van Beek explained, “This is the first time I have collaborated with a retail space and therefore provided the perfect opportunity to reach people who would never normally go to a museum.“ He continued, “I was given total artistic freedom by Shanghai Village and am able to take my work to a whole new level. My intention here is to show the immense rich European culture of an era that was heavily inspired by Asian cultures.”
About the Exhibition
The exhibits include a series of re-imagined artworks taken from existing designs, archive material, and never before seen work; by taking art deco inspiration and building a new original, improving and expanding on it; using better materials than the old ones; and from using traditional Shanghai window papercut decoration to the Chinese tradition for silk. Working with local Shanghai and Chinese artisans Bas van Beek’s designs have been further transformed; into an art deco piece of furniture by Artdeco Shanghai, a shop initiated by artist Ding Yi. Everyday homeware, such as plates, have been turned into pieces of artwork when combined with the skill of artisans in Jingdezhen.
YOUnit is a dedicated space within Shanghai Village offering visitors experiences where the emphasis is on “bringing to life” the making of products. It is curated by Davide Quadrio and Alan Grillo, and it is a concept that has been developed with various activities and partners throughout the first year of Shanghai Village. For this exhibition the YOUnit space has been reimagined. Breaking away from museum tradition and the protocol of using white walls and spaces, Bas Van Beek has taken his graphic wallpaper as the background to create a special atmosphere to connect with this audience. This idea is inspired by the director of the VanAbbe Museum in Holland, where Bas Van Beek is currently exhibiting.
This is the first time that Shanghai Village has collaborated with a world-class museum. “This particular collaboration is a great opportunity to reach people who would never normally go to a museum. After all, a retail space is a much less strange or intimidating than a museum.” Charles Esche, Director of the Van Abbemuseum, the Netherlands said.
As an artist, Bas van Beek wants to give people the chance to imagine the world differently, and to deliver that message to as many people as possible. As a result, working in a retail space is the perfect opportunity for him to stay true to that, but be flexible in how he makes it happen.
Together with Shanghai Village, Bas van Beek hopes to give his audience an authentic and totally new experience around art. Through this “Artist in Residence” programme, Shanghai Village is clearly demonstrating how they are a pioneer in providing creative spaces for the future.
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About Artist
Bas van Beek (born Nijmegen, 1974) work on critical projects, which have at the center market mechanisms, branding and pop designer cults. He often referred back to product designs from the past found in archives. He was the head of the designLAB department at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. His work is in the collections of Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam, the National Glass Museum, the Van Abbe Museum in Eindhoven, Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch and the Grand Hornu in Belgium.
About Curators
Davide Quadrio is the Founder and Director of Arthub, which is a Shanghai based and HK registered not-for-profit platform devoted to contemporary art creation and diffusion. Acting as a transcultural mediator, Arthub Asia orchestrates collaborations between Asian and overseas artists and institutions through the production of artworks, exhibitions, publications and educational activities. Davide is this year Venice Biennale Artistic Coordinator for the China Pavilion.
Alan Grillo is a Shanghai based curator and designer, diagonally working on projects spacing from fashion retail to exhibition setups and independent publishing. With a background in architecture and photography he moved to China in 2010, where he started collaborating with luxury fashion brands and later on with Istituto Marangoni Shanghai where he teaches digital and visual communication.As one of the editors of Genda, a magazine intersecting Western and Eastern culture, Alan researches and selects photography projects in mainland China.
Support
In addition to support from Shanghai Village, this is the first time that The Mondriaan Foundation has been an official partner of the collaboration of the work of a Dutch artist with a retail space. It provides further testimony to the vision of Shanghai Village and Bas Van Beek that people can enjoy an authentic and totally new experience around art in a retail space and not just in a museum.
The Mondriaan Foundation encourages the appreciation of visual arts, design, and cultural heritage from and within the Netherlands. The Mondriaan Fund has an annual budget of around 26 million euro; hundreds of projects are supported in the Netherlands and abroad every year.
