The Ifa Gallery () is a

contemporary art gallery A contemporary art gallery is normally a commercial art gallery operated by an art dealer which specializes in displaying for sale contemporary art, usually new works of art by living artists. This approach has been called the "Castelli Method ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, China and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium. The name Ifa comes from

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

艺 (''yì'') () and

法 ''Fa'' is a concept in Chinese philosophy that concerns aspects of ethics, logic, and law. Although it can be accurately translated as 'law' in some contexts, especially modern Chinese, it refers to a 'model' or 'standard' for the performance ...

(''fǎ''), meaning ''methods of art''. Established in 2006 and directed by Alexis Kouzmine-Karavaïeff, the Ifa Gallery explores perspectives on contemporary art in China and beyond.

History

The gallery initially opened in M50 (short for 50 Moganshan Road), the site of a former textile mill that is now a well-known Shanghai art district. Formerly Xinhe Cotton Mill, later renamed Shanghai Chunming Roving Factory, this area began attracting artists and galleries in 1999. There, the gallery was located in a renovated warehouse space of around 700m² designed by French architect Philippe Diani. In August 2008, the gallery moved to the former British concession near Jing'an Temple to a 1920s British colonial villa on Changde Road. Its exhibition space spreads across four levels of the building. At the end of 2013 it opened a new gallery space in

, in the historical district of Marolles. The Ifa Gallery opened a temporary space called "ifa²gallery" (August 2010 – February 2011) located on Yonkang Lu Art (a platform for contemporary art on Yongkang Road, developed by the artist-curator Zane Mellupe, in the former

French Concession The Shanghai French Concession was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943. For much of the 20th century, the area covered by the former French Concession remained the premier residential and retail district of Shanghai. ...

of Shanghai).

Artists and exhibitions

The Ifa Gallery opened the Changde Road gallery with two exhibitions curated by Bérénice Angremy and Marie Terrieux. The first wa
''Some Space for Humanity''
a solo exhibition of photographic works of the Gao Brothers () that reiterated the artists‘ focus on humanity and the built environment by playing on the physical confines of the gallery space. This opening exhibition coincided with Shanghai Art Fair 2008 and the 7th

Shanghai Biennale The Shanghai Biennale is one of the highest-profile contemporary art events in Shanghai and the most established art biennale in China. It was initially held in the Shanghai Art Museum. From 2012 on, it has been hosted in Power Station of Art, th ...

. In late 2008/early 2009, ''Ink Games'', the solo show of Dai Guangyu, was seen to be "one of the foremost events of the winter season in the sphere of contemporary fine art in Shanghai". The gallery also exhibits younger, emerging artists, such as intermedia artist Wu Junyong, painter Fan Jiupeng and Audrey Salmon, a Beijing-based photographer and designer. Ifa is also attempting to bring attention to artists from other parts of Asia, with exhibitions such as "A Snapshot of Contemporary Vietnamese Art", which placed "much needed emphasis on a genre which remains relatively unexplored in the art world"."Pulse, The Scene: A Snapshot of Contemporary Vietnamese Art", Blueprint Asia, vol. 3 issue 3. July 2009, p8.

References

External links

ifa gallery
official website {{Contemporary Art galleries in China Art museums and galleries in Shanghai Contemporary art galleries in China Art museums and galleries established in 2006 2006 establishments in Shanghai Cotton mills