There is a particular beauty in the way a work of art appears not before us, but together with us. In the morning it looks one way, in the evening another; in sunlight it seems almost architectural, at dusk it becomes a light signal, and beside a passerby it acquires a new scale. It is precisely this kind of experience that the Ninth Jing’an International Sculpture Exhibition in Shanghai offers.
Opened on 24 September 2026, it has been given the title “Spatial Manifestation” — Shapes of Becoming. The English word becoming is especially important here: what is at stake is not a completed form, but a process of becoming, a work that continues to change depending on place, time, weather, the movement of people and the character of the city itself.
This season, Shanghai invites us to look at sculpture as an event of perception. It is no longer obliged to be a motionless object on a pedestal. Its materials become light, sound, digital media, reflections, shadows and human presence.
The exhibition takes place at 28 locations. In total, 36 works by 33 artists from 14 countries are presented; nearly 60 percent of the international works underscore the scale of the cultural dialogue. Among the participants are the British sculptor Tony Cragg, the Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, the Frenchman Jean-Michel Othoniel and the Australian artist Lindy Lee. About 70 percent of the works were created specifically for this project, so the exhibition addresses not only the international history of contemporary art but also the specific fabric of Shanghai.
The Magic of Space: Why the Exhibition Begins Beyond the Museum
The main distinguishing feature of the Jing’an International Sculpture Project is the absence of a single entrance. The viewer does not cross the threshold of a museum to enter art. They encounter it along the way: in a park, by the road, along the water, among trees, urban noise and a familiar route.
The main display is located in Jing’an Sculpture Park. Additional works have appeared along Nanjing West Road and on a stretch of the Suzhou River. Thanks to this, the exhibition turns into a kind of map of the city, where the works become points of stopping, reflection and chance discovery.
One can imagine an ordinary day of a Shanghai city dweller. They are going to work, hurrying about their business or out for a stroll — and suddenly notice a form that enters into conversation with a facade, a tree or the water. In such a situation, art does not require special preparation. It simply turns out to be part of the route, and then imperceptibly changes its rhythm.
Public sculpture acts not only on the gaze but also on behaviour. It makes one slow down, walk around the object, look at it from another side, notice a reflection in glass or hear what was previously lost in the city noise.
This idea is also confirmed by contemporary research. A field experiment published in 2024 showed that interaction with artistic interventions in an urban environment can reduce subjective feelings of anxiety, stress and negative mood. The effect was linked to the extent to which participants perceived the place as aesthetically expressive, meaningful — filled with meaning — and conducive to the restoration of attention.
In other words, a work in the city is capable of functioning as a point of resetting perception. Not because it provides a ready-made answer, but because it returns to a person the ability to be attentive.
The Secret of “Becoming”: From Stone to Light and the Digital Environment
The theme of the exhibition continues the line that Jing’an has been developing since 2020. Previous projects addressed the ideas of “spatial rethinking,” “the evolution of space” and “spatial harmony”. In 2026, the emphasis shifted to the very moment of the emergence of form — to the way space becomes tangible through matter, light and movement.
In the traditional understanding, sculpture is associated with solid material: stone, bronze, metal or wood. But contemporary practice expands this definition. Now a stream of light, a sound wave, a digital projection or the space between viewer and object can become sculptural.
Some of the Jing’an works change their appearance depending on the time of day. Daytime sun reveals texture and volume, evening illumination creates new contours, and the night city becomes part of the composition. As a result, the park turns into a space of round-the-clock perception. A viewer can come in the morning, return after sunset and effectively see an already different exhibition.
Particularly organic within this concept is the presence of Olafur Eliasson — an artist whose practice is often built around light, natural phenomena, optics and bodily experience. His works remind us that we perceive space not as a neutral decoration, but as an environment that constantly shapes our state.
Tony Cragg, in turn, has for decades explored the relationship between material and form. His sculptures turn to geology, biology, industrial objects and the internal structure of matter. For Cragg, material is not passive raw stuff: it possesses its own memory, resistance and possibilities of transformation. In his works, familiar outlines of vessels, bodies or architectural elements can pass into abstract, almost fluid structures.
Cragg has an important thought: sculpture is not obliged to imitate reality — it is capable of creating a new reality. It is in this sense that his participation in the exhibition proves fundamental. It links the physical materiality of sculpture with the idea of becoming — of continuous transformation.
What public art teaches us today
Jing’an matters not only as an international survey of contemporary sculpture. It is also an example of how a city uses art to create new ways of living together.
The exhibition includes youth sections, educational programmes, photo competitions for city residents, a fair and master classes. Such a programme broadens the circle of participants: the viewer can not only look but also photograph, discuss, create their own interpretations and return to the works together with children or friends.
A contemporary exhibition increasingly becomes not a place for storing art, but an infrastructure of communication. In this sense, public art helps to form a sense of belonging to the city. It creates landmarks, meeting places and shared visual memories.
Research on urban art and creative placemaking shows that artistic projects can strengthen local identity, stimulate social interactions and activate spaces that were previously perceived merely as transit. The participation of the residents themselves becomes especially significant: a place acquires value not only thanks to the artist’s authority, but also because people become involved in its life.
For Jing’an, this means a transition from a single exhibition to a long-term cultural strategy. The park, the street and the embankment join into a single artistic environment. Art is not isolated from city life but helps to read it anew — to see the connection between nature, infrastructure, the memory of the district and the technological future.
How to look at the exhibition attentively
To feel the logic of “Spatial Manifestation,” the exhibition is worth traversing not as a list of objects, but as a route.
Begin with Jing’an Sculpture Park in the daytime. Pay attention to the scale of the works, the distance between them and the way they enter into dialogue with the trees, the paths and the surrounding architecture. Then walk on to Nanjing West Road: here it is especially noticeable how an art object exists alongside the commercial city, the flow of traffic and human haste.
After sunset, it is worth returning to the works that use light, reflection and digital technologies. Compare your impressions: which detail disappeared, which appeared, which work became more intimate, and which more architectural?
It is useful to keep a small visual diary and record three things:
• what you noticed first;
• how the work changed after several minutes of observation;
• what in it is connected specifically with Shanghai, and could not exist just anywhere.
If a trip to Shanghai is not yet in your plans, the theme can be continued online. For an acquaintance with the art of light and space, the archives of Tate and Louisiana Channel will serve well, as will materials about Tony Cragg’s Skulpturenpark Waldfrieden, along with digital projects of museums of contemporary art. As books and catalogues, it is worth turning to publications about Olafur Eliasson, public art and contemporary sculpture, where the work is considered not in isolation, but in connection with architecture, landscape and the viewer’s bodily experience.
Why this exhibition will stay with us
“Spatial Manifestation” shows that urban sculpture can be at once international and local, technological and sensual, intellectual and accessible to a chance passer-by.
In this project, Shanghai acts not as a backdrop but as a co-author. Its streets, water, high-rise architecture, density of movement and shifting light take part in creating every viewer's experience. The same work is never absolutely repeated: it is changed by the hour, the weather, the route, the mood and the presence of other people.
This is the main meaning of the exhibition. Art does not simply occupy space — it helps space to manifest itself. Thanks to sculpture, the park becomes more attentive to light, the street to the human scale, and the city to its own memory and future.
Until 31 December 2026, Jing’an invites us to look at Shanghai as a living composition, where forms continue to arise right before our eyes. And perhaps, after such a walk, the familiar city will never seem the same again: hidden rhythms, unexpected lines and places that await not explanation but an attentive gaze will begin to open up within it.
