2021 Review
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PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai marked its successful return with Porsche as Presenting Partner, reporting strong sales and high praise from participants. Running from 3-6 November, the seventh edition featured over 50 exhibitors and welcomed enthusiastic collectors and visitors, reaffirming the fair’s position as Asia Pacific’s leading destination for discovering and collecting photo-based art. The eighth edition of PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai will take place at the Shanghai Exhibition Center 22-25 September 2022. Showcasing the very best of contemporary fine art photography, this year’s fair celebrated the breadth and diversity of the local scene with presentations by artists and galleries from across China. The fair highlighted works which pushed the boundaries of the medium with cutting-edge displays, ranging from still images to video, installation and mixed media, by both leading names, and emerging talents.
PHOTOFAIRS Shanghai was pleased to welcome back collectors and visitors with a dynamic programme featuring new sections such as SOLO, galleries with a single artist presentation and Publishing, presenting photobook publishers from around the world. Extending the reach of the fair beyond the exhibition center were two additional new sections: Screen, a film programme presented in partnership with the Centre for Experimental Film (CEF); and On View, a WeChat Mini Program providing international exhibitors with the opportunity to showcase and sell work to Chinese audiences.
The public programme sought to engage with and explore the impact of recent events and trends in the practice of various artists. This included the work of Hu Jieming, the focus of this year’s Spotlight section, whose new series The Things (2020) was produced during a period of isolation. The intersection between photography and new technologies was explored in Roam Simulator, an interactive installation by this year’s Exposure Award recipient Cao Shu (Hive Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing) and in Insights: Imaging Our Futures, a thematic group exhibition curated by He Yining featuring 12 international artists and collectives.
Other public programme highlights included: Not for Profit, a new initiative aimed at highlighting the role of museums and organisations in cultivating and advancing photographic culture in China; and Shanghai Century: Shanghai Spirit, a special exhibition presented by Porsche in collaboration with the Shanghai Center of Photography, celebrating Porsche’s 20th anniversary in China.
