On Friday, the Beijing-based UCCA Center for Contemporary Art opened a hotly anticipated Shanghai outpost. Titled the UCCA Edge, the new museum—designed by SO–IL, the same Brooklyn-based architecture firm behind the K11 Art and Cultural Centre in Hong Kong and New York’s soon-to-open Amant arts center —contains nearly 60,000 square feet of gallery space and is sited in the city’s Jing’An district.
The museum has the potential to significantly expand the presence of the UCCA, which is already one of China’s most important museums. This is the third space to be opened by the UCCA. The second, known as the UCCA Dune, opened in the northeastern coastal resort town of Beidaihe in 2018.
In a statement, UCCA director Philip Tinari said, “With the opening of UCCA Edge, we will be able to deliver top-quality programming to audiences in China’s two largest metropolitan areas, moving us one significant step closer to becoming a truly national institution. We look forward to deepening our relationships with artists and publics in this great city.”
With the UCCA Edge now open to the public, below is a look inside the museum, whose inaugural offerings include a survey of artists’ responses to Shanghai as a city at the dawn of the new millennium and a series of commission by new artists.
