Being Art Museum

Being Art Museum was established on April 18, 2019. Located at 135 Hongfeng Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai, the museum has a total building area of approximately 5,100 square meters, including about 1,900 square meters of exhibition space, two rooftop gardens on the third floor, and a climate-controlled underground artwork storage space of nearly 400 square meters. The museum is dedicated to creating a "New Art" museum space centered on "New Shanghai School" culture. On October 18, 2020, Jinqiao Being Art Museum partnered with Shanghai Pudong Library to establish the Pudong Library Art Branch, which houses over 600 personal representative books and documents donated by 30 Chinese contemporary art critics and artists, as well as more than 6,000 carefully selected professional art books from both institutions.

The above-ground portion of the museum consists of three floors and is a truly "East-meets-West" building. Because it sits adjacent to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church at Zhangjialou, the façade facing the church features Western-style architecture, while the other side displays a modern style—a fascinating contrast.

From January 1, 2026, to March 10, 2026, the museum is hosting an art exhibition themed "SYMBIOSIS OF LOVE: An Ecological Dialogue Between Humans and Nature." The artworks on display explore how dialogic practices can reshape connections between people, between people and objects, and between people and the environment. Artworks created by artists using discarded toys, plastic waste, and scrap metal easily evoke environmental themes. Another section features paintings, such as Shi Zhiying's oil-on-canvas series, which express the artist's subtle observations of natural phenomena. Behind these artworks lies Being Art Museum's public art projects. One of them, the Yangdeng Forest Ranger Project, explores how art can foster symbiotic relationships and intrinsic value within real social networks through daily interactions with villagers. The exhibition includes plant specimens collected by forest rangers and drawings made by countryside children. Another project, the "Art Off-Road Initiative," converted a medium-sized bus into a "mobile art museum" that visits rural schools in Pudong, spreading art to children through lectures and courses. The second-floor exhibition area also features performance art (video). One piece titled "Spring at the Stinking Ditch" shows the artist, over a decade ago, bombing a foul-smelling ditch with homemade fireworks at a rural-urban fringe area in Beijing (typically areas where migrant workers concentrate, characterized by poor sanitation, neglected management, and urban periphery conditions). Through this act, the artist attempts to pose the question: Can fleeting brilliance mask the decay behind it?

A delightful surprise at Being Art Museum is the Pudong Library Art Branch located next to the first-floor coffee bar. Here, visitors can freely read hundreds of art-related books or borrow them online, all in a quiet and comfortable environment.

All art exhibitions at Being Art Museum are free and open to the public year-round, with visits typically lasting about one hour.