GLOBAL ART IN SHANGHAI TIME - The 2nd Shanghai International Artwork Trade Month Opening in October

The press conference of the 2nd Shanghai International Artwork Trade Month was held on the morning of September 15 (Tuesday), 2020 at West Bund, Shanghai. As was announced in the conference, the 2nd Shanghai International Artwork Trade Month will be held from October 15 to November 15 this year, and the Smart Artwork Display and Trading Platform will be launched on the same day of the conference, which simultaneously enables online registration through the platform for exhibitors. It was also announced that Shanghai is exerting great efforts in building the ART Tower in West Bund, a new landmark of Shanghai representing the highland of the art industry. Letters of intent on strategic cooperation have been signed between the city of Shanghai, and enterprises and organizations including Phillips, ShanghART Gallery, Ota Fine Arts, Arario Gallery, Alibaba and AXATP.

About 100 representatives from the Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, Shanghai Customs, State Administration of Foreign Exchange Shanghai Bureau, the CPC Committee of Xuhui District, People’s Government of Xuhui District and other departments of Shanghai Municipal and Xuhui District, as well as from media and renowned art institutions at home and abroad, have attended the press conference.

This event is set to implement the strategic deployment of the Shanghai Municipal CPC Committee and the Municipal Government on launching the ‘Shanghai Culture’ brand, accelerating the implementation of the key tasks regarding “building an important international art trading center" proposed in the 50 Articles on Promoting Shanghai Cultural and Creative Industry, and building the strength of art industry in Shanghai by fully employing its momentum in inheriting history and culture as well as promoting industrial innovation. It is held under the guidance of the Publicity Department of CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, the CPC Committee of Xuhui District, People’s Government of Xuhui district, and the joint support of Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, Shanghai Customs, State Administration of Foreign Exchange Shanghai Bureau, Publicity Department of CPC Xuhui District Committee, Administration of Culture and Tourism of Xuhui District, Xuhui District Tax Service of State Taxation Administration, Commission of Commerce of Xuhui District, Administration for Market Regulation of Xuhui District, Xuhui Customs. The Trade Month is jointly hosted by Shanghai West Bund Development (Group) Company, Ltd., Shanghai Kailan Marketing Co., Ltd., Shanghai Industry Association of Social Heritage and Shanghai FTZ International Culture Investment and Development Co., Ltd. in collaboration with related departments and associations, spanning from October 15 to November 15. Seizing the opportunities during the window periods of the industry, the Trade Month is highlighting ‘Shanghai landmark, Shanghai time, Shanghai platform’, and accelerating the formation of a cluster of world-renowned art institutions in Xuhui District under the guidance of ‘policy, entities, trade and efficiency concentrated’ strategy. It also aims at forging the development of an artwork trading section for the Shanghai International Import Expo, introducing major international art trading events, forming a hundred-billion scaled art industry, and ultimately promoting the new global artwork ‘trade time’ of Shanghai in line with New York, Paris, London and Basel.

The 2nd Shanghai International Artwork Trade Month, themed with “Global Art in Shanghai Time”, concentrates on introducing the international ‘Shanghai time of artwork trading’, where international exhibitions and trade fairs are simultaneously held. With the beginning of a new round of global art auctions, well-known international autumn auctions such as Sotheby's, Christie's, and Phillips will be held in Shanghai during the current Trade Month online and offline. High-quality exhibitions and trade fairs such as Shanghai Folk Collection of Precious Cultural Relics Exhibition continue to help energize the market of affordable art. Two major local art fairs, the 7th West Bund Art & Design and the 8th ART021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, and one international art fair, the 13th Shanghai Biennale, will also be held during the Trade Month.

The newly created international ‘Shanghai landmark of the art industry’—ART Tower, is located in the core cultural area of Shanghai West Bund. It draws on the experience of successful cases in building international art trade cluster area to attract top institutions in the global art industry and high-quality resources alike. It is the landmark, the core carrier, and a comprehensive industrial complex created to build a key international art trading center in Shanghai. The structure construction of the Tower has been completed. Model spaces are scheduled to be made available during the Trade Month. ART Tower boasts its advantages in three aspects. Firstly, it is an integrated art space. In the building, different types of spaces for artwork trading and art exhibition are gathered and integrated, including an international-standard public exhibition hall of 2,300 square meters and a separate area of 2,000 square meters for storage. At the same time, the Shanghai International Art Trade Center will be relocated in the tower and provide comprehensive supporting services for industrial project grounding. Secondly, ‘one-stop’ trade services are provided. Employing the strength of Shanghai International Artwork Trade Center, we are going to provide art institutions with maximized convenience and service regarding policy, process and operation. The third is the ‘total factor’ industrial ecology. It accurately connects main stakeholders of the art trading industry, such as the top 5 auction houses and the top 20 galleries, and expands upstream and downstream build an ecosystem of art with an integrated industrial chain, innovation chain, and capital chain and service chain. At the same time, the interaction will be promoted between ART Tower and the Museum Mile, West Bund AI Valley, West Bund Media Port, and leading enterprises such as CCTV, Alibaba, and Tencent. Under the guidance of the West Bund "ART&AI" development strategy, technology and art will collide with greater sparks here. ART Tower and West Bund will become the ‘hot’ landmark in China gathering the most art institutions and art talents, and hosting the most dynamic art exhibitions and trades.

On the basis of the policy of the first Trade Month, we will further build the ‘Shanghai platform for art development’ to create a better business environment and policy system for art trading. Practical problems art institutions confronted when looking to settle down and further develop in Shanghai are actively solved. Approval function and an intelligent registration system are enabled through the Trade Center. Subsidies for key events and participating institutions during the Trade Month are further increased in the form of venue rental subsidies, convention and exhibition subsidies, exhibition subsidies, individual tax relief, and projected-based support, as a result of policy innovations. At the same time, the Smart Artwork Display and Trading Platform are developed jointly with Alibaba Cloud, activating the ‘Online Shanghai International Import Expo of Art’, actively upgrading to the art section of the Expo, and exploring online development for the art trading industry. The first is the online artwork registration, which facilitates administrative services. The second is to build a global online platform for 7x24 hours display and trade and to provide comprehensive services for art trading. The third is to use advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain to explore innovative hybrid business models such as artwork IP authorization and artwork financial leasing.

In the face of the significant opportunity during a period of pattern changes in the global art industry, with the 2nd Shanghai International Artwork Trade Month, Shanghai is creating more trade opportunities for the international artwork market and attracting the attention of the world.

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