New art space breathes life into upscale mall

The artist Xu Zhen.

Vanna Teng, CEO of Bund 18 Real Estate Management Ltd, is ready to let artists experiment with their wild ideas. "We made a commitment to keep a space for art since the first day we opened."

Bund 18 is not an exclusive place only for high-end consumption, Teng says, "we do have to limit the number of people in order to protect the antique building, but the door is always open for art."

Bund 18 did have a gallery space on its fourth floor but recently decided to move it to the second floor and the ground floor lobby. Although the new space is called "Bund 18 Temporary Art Space", its new director Li Zhenhua has laid plans for the next two years.

"We decided to present Xu Zhen first because he has been an important artist for the city of Shanghai," Li says. Xu's installation of abstract paintings has changed the perspective of the space and provided rich visual imagery, Li says.

Born in Shanghai in 1977, Xu has been active in the contemporary art scene at home and abroad for more than a decade. Since 2009, he has worked with art company "MadeIn".

Xu and MadeIn have produced large numbers of work in various media, and exhibited in art fairs and biennales, yet people might find it difficult to profile his work.

A skeptic of any established means of determining value, Xu doesn't trust the auction market, and remains equally doubtful about academic evaluations of his art.

His art explores issues such as religion, morality and ideology. He has also developed a dance by choreographing the worship rituals of more than 80 types of world religions.