Travellers Mirror Cities

Following its debut at the Venice Biennale (April 17 to May 16, 2024), the ‘TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES’ themed exhibition will begin its China tour with a grand opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MoCA Shanghai) on November 7, 2024. Much like the travels of the Italian explorer Marco Polo, this exhibition traverses time and space, arriving in the mysterious East, engaging in a profound dialogue with Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. Through artistic ‘intervention’, the exhibition reveals the infinite fantasies, experiences, and hidden realms contained within the concept of the ‘city’.

From The Water City of Venice to Shanghai, another city favored by travelers, ‘TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES’ focuses on the symbiosis between travelers and the city. Here, visitors can explore not only the ‘invisible city’, but also delve into the ‘invisible self’. Through the medium of contemporary art, MoCA Shanghai seeks to explore the ‘self in the mirror’ through the lens of travel, continuing the cross-temporal dialogue between Eastern and Western civilizations. In the dialectic of ‘facing the mirror’ and ‘gazing from afar’, the exhibition decodes the complex structure where the city and the individual reflect each other while growing independently, awakening a sense of self-existence. It creates a mirrored pathway for visitors to introspection and self-harmony.