''Cities on the Move'' was a major

traveling exhibition A travelling exhibition, also referred to as a "travelling exhibit" or a "touring exhibition", is a type of exhibition that is presented at more than one venue. Temporary exhibitions can bring together objects that might be dispersed among sever ...

curated by Hou Hanru and

Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist (born 1968) is a Swiss art curator, critic, and historian of art. He is artistic director at the Serpentine Galleries, London. Obrist is the author of ''The Interview Project'', an extensive ongoing project of interviews. He is ...

. The exhibition toured to various locations from 1997 to 1999, presenting the cultural impact of East Asia's rapid urban development in the late twentieth century through a mix of visual art, architecture, and film. The exhibition opened in 1997 at the

Vienna Secession The Vienna Secession (german: Wiener Secession; also known as ''the Union of Austrian Artists'', or ''Vereinigung Bildender Künstler Österreichs'') is an art movement, closely related to Art Nouveau, that was formed in 1897 by a group of Austri ...

in Austria, and then traveled in various forms to

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution located in Court Square in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, New York City. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, New York; CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux; the

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is an art museum located on the shore of the Øresund Sound in Humlebæk, north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the most visited art museum in Denmark, and has an extensive permanent collection of modern and cont ...

, Denmark;

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...

, London; Bangkok; and Kiasma, Helsinki. Overall, it involved more than 150 architects, artists, filmmakers, and designers. According to

Asia Art Archive Asia Art Archive (AAA) is a nonprofit organisation based in Hong Kong which focuses on documenting the recent history of contemporary art in Asia within an international context. AAA incorporates material that members of local art communities ...

, ''Cities on the Move'' was “a landmark event in contemporary exhibition-making for its extensive use of urbanism theories, its strong involvement of architects, and its attempt to recreate an ever-evolving city within an exhibition space”, which included a continuous programme of performances, screenings, and discussions during the exhibition period.

Background

The exhibition's origins can be traced to 1990, when curators Hou Hanru and Hans Ulrich Obrist both moved to Paris, and Hou introduced Obrist to Chinese and Hong Kong art for the first time. Conceived during a period of rapid urban and economic growth in East Asia, the exhibition's first iteration opened just a few months after the beginning of the

1997 Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

, which saw the economic collapse of multiple countries in the region.

Exhibition Concept, History and Venues

''Cities on the Move'' presented “the dynamic and highly creative situation of contemporary urban visual culture in East Asia” in the context of the unprecedented growth of cities in the region. The exhibition curators Hou Hanru and Hans Ulbrecht Obrist chose cities as a site to explore themes of modernisation such as consumerism, monumental architecture, traffic congestion, privacy and public space, and competitive urbanism. Over two years and across seven locations, the exhibition's curators and artists experimented with different strategies to respond to the unfolding sociocultural, economic, and political crises in Asi

In each setting, the project took on various forms through new commissions, artists, groupings and theme

Secession Vienna

''Cities on the Move'' was first installed on the eve of the hundredth anniversary of the

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It took place from 26 November 1997 to 18 January 1998.

CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux

The exhibition was staged at CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux in France from 5 June to 30 August 1998.

MoMA PS1, New York

The exhibition took place at MoMA PS1 in New York from 18 October 1998 to 10 January 1999.

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark

The exhibition was staged at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, from 29 January to 21 April 1999.

Hayward Gallery
London

The exhibition took place at the Hayward Gallery, London, from 13 May to 27 June 1999.

Bangkok

The Bangkok edition of ''Cities on the Move'' took place between 9 and 30 October 1999. The exhibition was a collective endeavour by the

Siam Society The Siam Society Under Royal Patronage ( th, สยามสมาคมในพระบรมราชูปถัมภ์) was established in 1904 with a mission to promote knowledge of the culture, history, arts, and natural sciences of Thai ...

with the support and artistic contributions of the Asia Europe Foundation, in collaboration with European Union member states and the European Commissio

Based on the exhibition concept of Hou and Obrist, the Bangkok exhibition was co-ordinated by Ole Scheeren, Thomas Nordanstad and Albert Paraviwongchirachai, exhibition director of the Siam Societ

More than 100 artists and architects from China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Europe took par

Since the city had "no museum for contemporary art that could host a show like Cities on the Move", the organisers chose the city itself as the exhibition space, turning the life, people, and infrastructure of the city into the content of the exhibitio

Kiasma, Helsinki

The exhibition was staged at the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, from 5 November to 19 December 1999.

Participating Artists

References

{{reflist Traveling exhibits 1997 establishments 1999 disestablishments