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Asia and China are essential to the reinvention of contemporary artistic production and to the growth of a new international market.

SH Contemporary is the most dynamic art fair in Mainland China, reaching out to the Asia Pacific and bringing the cutting-edge creativity of the region's artists and galleries to the global art community.

Under the new direction of Massimo Torrigiani, the 5th edition of the fair, which will take place at Shanghai Exhibition Center from September 8th to 10th, with preview on the 7th, will celebrate the emerging Asia Pacific art world with a comprehensive selection of top Chinese galleries and a choice of other Asian and Western galleries. Among others, Beijing Art Now, Beijing Commune, Boers-Li, Continua, Eigen+Art, James Cohan, Long March, Lin & Lin, Nature Morte, Pace Beijing, Pearl Lam Fine Art, Shanghai Gallery of Art, ShanghART, Star Gallery, Tang Contemporary, Tina Keng, White Space and a selection of young galleries participating at SH Contemporary for the first time.

The fair is complemented by a programme of curatorial projets co-organized by Arthub Asia and its directors Davide Quadrio, Defne Ayas and Qiu Zhijie, along its extended network of curators, including Rogue Art (Adeline Ooi, Beverly Yong and Rachel Ng) and Leo Xu, in collaboration with participating galleries:

First Issue featuring new works by emerging artists such as Chen Ching-Yuan, Doublefly, Jin Shan, Liu Gang, Liu Ren, Lu Miao, Lu Yang, Song Chen, Su Chang, Xie Molin, Xu Zhe and Zheng Qiang. Absolut Vodka is the sponsor of this new section of the fair.

Hot Spots, displaying large scale or site specific projects by reknown artists including Birdhead (Song Tao and Ji Weiyu), Carsten Nicolai, He An, Heman Chong, Jiang Zhi, Kan Xuan, Lee Kit, Liang Yuanwei, Zhuang Hui & Dan Er, and Zhou Xiaohu.

Now Ink, a focus on calligraphy and ink painting-realted works by Bai Yiluo, Chen Qi, FX Harsono, Jennifer Wen Ma, Kan Xuan and Yangjiang Group (Zheng Guogu, Chen Zaiyan and Sun Qinglin.

A dynamic Video Lounge with hourly screenings selected by different contributors, including, among others, Shaway Yeh, editorial director of Modern Media Publishing Group, and the LEAP magazine editorial team.

SH Contemporary 2011 will see also the launch of a new section on photography, with specialized galleries, solo shows and offsite round tables hosted by M on the Bund, introducing the first edition of the SH Asia Pacific Photography Prize, awarded by an international jury of artists, editors and curators.

To support Chinese art institutions and foster institutional collecting, the fair will host the first convention of the newly established Private Art Museum Alliance, which groups 28 Chinese contemporary art private museums, such as Minsheng Art Museum, Rockbund Art Museum, Today Art Museum, Zendai Himalaya Art Center, which will jointly run a lounge presenting their activities to the public.

A series of satellite events, from museum presentations, as the preview of Minsheng Museum's exhibition on 20 years of Chinese video art, to gallery shows, performances, talks, video screenings, and parties will give art lovers a sense of the energy running through the Chinese and Asian art world.

Venue: Shanghai Exhibition Center, No.1000 Yan An Middle Road, Shanghai

Date & Time:

Preview (by invitation): Wednesday 7th September 5pm-7pm

Vernissage (by invitation): Wednesday 7th September 7pm-10pm

Public Days (by ticket): Thursday 8th September 11am-6pm

Friday 9th September 11am-6pm

Saturday 10th September 11am-5pm