At 15:00, December 12, the First Shanghai Curators Lab (SCL) came to an end in Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, which, nevertheless, marked the official launch of the group curatorial program—“It was a Dream of a Trip.” This group program would last from December 2 to December 13. Wang Dawei, the Executive Dean of SAFA、Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, the Director of the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art、Yongwoo Lee, the professor of SAFA at Shanghai University, have attended onsite and handed the course certificate of completion to every curator. There were many collaborators, experts, artists, teachers and students from SAFA gathering together to witness and celebrate the opening of SCL’s group curatorial program-“It was a Dream of a Trip”, including Gong Yan (Director of Power Station of Art)、Zhou Tiehai (Artistic Director of West Bund Art and Design)、Biljana Ciric (Independent Curator)、Li Naihan(Architect and Artist)、Lorenz Helbling (Founder of ShanghART)、Qiao Zhibing (Founder of Qiao Space& Tank Shanghai)、Jin Jiangbo (Associate Dean of SAFA).    

 The official launch of the group curatorial program

—  “It was a Dream of a Trip.”

Wang Dawei, Executive Dean of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, communicated with guests

The curators applauded and celebrated 

the opening of the exhibition

Driven by SAFA and BAOWU Group, Shanghai International Art City (SIAC) research institute serves for the construction of 2035 Shanghai city sub-center under the background of the overall transformation of Shanghai Wusong industrial zone. Wang Dawei, the Executive Dean of SAFA gave the opening speech to introduce SCL, hoping it could take advantages of the early stage of SIAC to provide younger talents a space of boundless imagination, as well as a platform and an experimental field to demonstrate intelligence and to realize their ideas. This first edition of SCL will continuously develop and expand for the future of Shanghai and all the curators will bring endless vitality. 

 The scene of the group curatorial program

—  “It was a Dream of a Trip.”

Wang Dawei, Executive Dean of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, gave the closing speech. He first expressed congratulations to every curator’s successful completion of the SCL program, and pointed out that this program symbolized the first attempt of interactive teaching between curators and lead professors and lectures. He also reiterated the goal of the SCL, that was, to build a Shanghai-based global circle and platform for curators from home and abroad, to seek in-depth cooperation with curators in the construction process of the Wusong International Art City, and to jointly create the international art ecosphere. 

Wang Dawei, Executive Dean of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, gave the closing speech.

Carolyn Christove- Bakargiev, the lead professor of this program, participated in the whole preparation process of this curators’ group program. Her involvement in discussions of curators provided curators with effective suggestions and guidance. She firstly expressed heartfelt thanks to all curators, for the new generation of young curators gave her many inspirations. Meanwhile, she was very satisfied with the outcome of the curators’ group program, which demonstrated the unique expression forms and emotional output forms of art in the digital era. To conclude, she sincerely hoped that audiences could enjoy this visual feast. 

Carolyn Christove- Bakargiev, the lead professor of this program, gave the speech.

Yongwoo Lee, another lead professor, also made a summary of this program. He hoped the sharing and discussions in class could be historical life moments of the SCL and keep on fermenting. In Lee’s opinion, this curators’ group program, “It was a Dream of a Trip,” represented feelings of curators gathering in Shanghai and a “revolutionary” trip in their long career as a curator. Thus, he wished that audiences, after visiting this exhibition, could gain a more diverse artistic thinking of the cosmopolitan city, Shanghai. 

Yongwoo Lee, the lead professor of this program, 

gave the speech.

Chen Zhigang, the program manager of SCL, 

hosted the opening ceremony.

The lead professors handed the course certificate of completion to every curator and took a group photo to commemorate the exciting moment. Yang Tiange from China and Giulia Colletti from Italy, as curators' representatives, shared the thoughts of great challenges in the short-term preparation of this group project of SCL. They also expressed thanks for the support from all aspects.

Wang Dawei, Executive Dean of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, handed the course certificate of completion to the curator

Yongwoo Lee, the lead professor of this program,

 handed the course-complete certificate to the curator

Tiange Yang，cuator from China，gave the speech.

Giulia Colletti，cuator from Italy，gave the speech.

The one-month tense but well-organized lectures, seminars, visits to artists’ studios, biennial exhibition and art fair, as well as cultural tours provided curators with an infinite curatorial thinking and resources from all different industries. Through constant discussions, the curators successfully accomplished the jointly-curated exhibition, “It was a Dream of a Trip.” This exhibition is about what is present and what is absent and the traffic and crossing of what moves in between. It brings together a variety of visual materials delimiting real from unreal, actual from virtual, past from present. It is an experiment of love and care in the face of an impossible dialogue and an attempt at finding harmony in the dissonant voices of 21 curators asked to collaborate and work together on a single exhibition. Participating artists: Aaajiao、Diego Ascencio、Ramiro Ávila、Richard Brautigan、Feng Chen、Zhang Ding、Display Distribute、Adelita Husni-Bey、Yan Jun 、Chen Leng、Hanne Lippard、Qinmin Liu、Lu Pingyuan、Mo Shaolong、Mountain River Jump! (Huang Shan & Huang He)、Quiet Kate、Klara Ravat、Alvin Tran、Evelyn Taocheng Wang、Steven Warwick、Funa Ye、Yin Yi、Xu Zhen.

 The scene of the group curatorial program

—  “It was a Dream of a Trip”

Curator have programed three art performances at that opening day to bring a unique audiovisual experience to the audience, including “The Best Is Yet To Come”(Performance by Alvin Tran, with Garth Art and Hank Yu) 、“You Live In The Desert Of The Real, But I Live In Beautiful”(Artist: Ye Funa) and “The Real as Imaginary”(Composer: Peter Ablinger and Performer: Viola Yip). 

“The Best Is Yet To Come”

”You Live In The Desert Of The Real, But I Live In Beautiful”

“The Real as Imaginary”

Let us make the first edition of Shanghai Curators Lab as a starting point to invite more young curators to join us, to constantly inject vigor in the construction of Shanghai Wusong International Art City, and to integrate art education, art practice and curatorial practice to shape a unique ecology of art and culture.