Admiring art in fuel tanks

Set in a former airport, a new cultural landmark in the West Bund area will hold three exhibitions as part of its grand opening in late March, Zhang Kun reports in Shanghai.

Anew cultural landmark called Tank Shanghai, an art space which comprises five repurposed giant oil tanks, will open in the West Bund area along the Huangpu River on March 23.

The tanks that make up this art space used to be part of the facilities of Longhua Airport, the city's first aviation hub.

The West Bund area that flanks the Huangpu is one of the most active art and culture centers in downtown Shanghai. The area is home to a cluster of important art and cultural institutions, such as the Long Museum, the Shanghai Center of Photography and the new Pompidou Centre Shanghai, which is still under construction. Situated across Longteng Avenue from the art space is the West Bund Art Center, the venue for an annual art fair in November that was attended by more than 100 leading galleries around the world.

Occupying 60,000 square meters, the art space was founded by Qiao Zhibing, a renowned collector of contemporary art. According to Qiao, the space is a multifunctional cultural hub that combines exhibition venues with parkland, a plaza, a bookstore, an education center and a restaurant. The project took more than five years to complete.