No shortage of suitors for Shanghai art museums as Western counterparts seek exposure in China – France’s Pompidou Centre is the latest

Parisian arts centre launches its collaboration with West Bund Art Museum, showing a condensed history of modern art and a sample of its new-media collection

It is not the only cross-cultural exchange involving a Shanghai institution – the Yuz Museum is hosting works from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art

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Gelb-Rot-Blau (Yellow-Red-Blue), a 1925 work by Vasily Kandinsky from the Pompidou Centre collection, is among the works on display in Shanghai as part of the Parisian arts centre’s collaboration with the West Bund Art Museum. It is one of a number of cross-cultural exchanges involving Shanghai art museums. Photo: Pompidou Centre

Published: 4:51pm, 8 Nov 2019Updated: 4:51pm, 8 Nov 2019

The Shanghai visual arts scene is buzzing and everyone wants a piece of the action.

Leading the pack is France’s Pompidou Centre, which opened its first outpost outside Europe on the West Bund this week. Inaugurated by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday and opened to the public on Friday, the Pompidou Centre x West Bund Museum Project is the latest in a series of institutional collaborations that exemplify the Chinese city’s growing appetite for culture.

There is the privately run Yuz Museum, led by Indonesian-Chinese art collector Budi Tek, which has announced a partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and Qatar Museums and cites exposure and cross-cultural exchange as their main goals.

And this week the Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing said it plans to open a Shanghai space in early 2021. The 5,000 sq ft gallery in the city’s northern Jingan district will be designed by architectural film SO-IL and will feature works by significant Chinese, international, and emerging contemporary artists, the centre said.

Le Guitariste (The Guitar Player), a 1910 work by Pablo Picasso from the Pompidou Centre collection, is on display in Shanghai as part of “The Shape of Time” exhibition. Photo: Pompidou Centre

Why Shanghai? One need look no further than the West Bund to find the answer.