An Insider’s Guide To M50
Although M50 is well known as Shanghai’s most famous and longest running art district, for first time visitors and art newbies its maze-like configuration can be a little daunting.
A walking tour with sculptor, guide and China art insider, Christina Shmigel, is just the person to take the confusion out of a trip to M50. Even if you’ve been numerous times before, the insights on offer still make walking around with Shmigel a worthwhile experience.
Not only has Shanghai been the inspiration for Christina’s work for the better part of a decade, but her years in and around China’s art scene means she knows many of the art gallery owners, curators and artists involved in M50.
It’s one thing to see Li Xiaofei’s arresting video works on display at the always impressive OV Gallery, but it’s quite another to hear Shmigel tell her own stories about Li and the way in which he works. It’s another level of experiencing the best art M50 has to offer.
The most difficult thing about finding your way through art districts in China is often finding the cream of the exhibition crop, from the more commercial and/or those with less artistic merit.
Taking in reliably excellent galleries, including OV Gallery, ShanghART, and Island6 Art Center – operated by the increasingly popular artistic collective of the same name.
Whether your tastes run more to painting, photography, installation, new or mixed media works, a little bit of everything is included on this three hour tour, including quick pit stops in M50’s increasing number of interesting retail design spaces.More than simply an introduction to the best art M50 has to offer, Shmigel also offers guests an insight into the district itself, from its past life as a textile mill, to its current position as Shanghai’s longest-running and most respected artistic enclave.
Though its days as a hub for cheap studio space are behind it, Shmigel also explains how M50 has escaped the fate of many other creative parks, that have been overtaken by overtly commercial enterprises (particularly wedding photography studios) with little room remaining for genuinely creative endeavours, including galleries, museums and creative design stores.
A trip to M50 should be on everyone’s Shanghai bucket list. Why not take the extra step and get the inside scoop on the artistic enclave? A place on Context Travel’s three hour “M50 – Art in China Today” group tour is priced at RMB 550 per person, with tours running Wednesdays through Sundays – rain, hail or shine. If a private tour is more your speed, the group rate is RMB 2,500. Web: www.contexttravel.com
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