The 15 best things to do in Shanghai this week
NIGHTLIFE
Osunlade
Founder of Yoruba records and with just the 14 albums to his name, Osunlade is something of a house music legend. He’s seen by many as one of the most gifted producers of soul/funk-infused house. And he got his big break on... Sesame Street. Who knew?
Unico. Fri 20. 10pm. 100RMB.
Mr. Ho
DADA regulars 12" of Fun bring Hong Kong native DJ and music collector Mr. Ho to Shanghai. After a seven-year-long diaspora in Europe - holding residencies at clubs like Ohm and Tape in Berlin and Batofar in Paris, Mr. Ho aka Michael Ho moved back to his hometown Hong Kong in 2016. He'll lay down his house and techno releases on Clone, ESP Institute or his own label Klasse records alongside Lindberg and Tobias Patrick.
DADA. Fri 20. 10pm. Free.
MUSIC
The Prodigal Son Returns
Grunge band frontman-turned-folkie Bai Yu joins fellow multi-instrumentalist Annie Hsu for a show to mark the release of the latter’s new album, Colour Blind. Both specialise in sultry, carefully crafted folk music that shifts between sparse acoustic numbers and lushly produced emotive sounds.
On Stage. Fri 20. 8pm-midnight. 100RMB; 80RMB (presale).
FILM
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Coming a month later to China than the rest of the world, Rogue One is a side story from the Star Wars juggernaut, focusing on a crew tasked with stealing the plans for the original Death Star. The movie has inspired a range of critical reaction from adoring to derisive, but all note the film’s strong visuals and sense of scale.
Cinemas around Shanghai.
Eye in the Sky
Col. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute over the implications of modern warfare.
Cinemas around Shanghai.
Kubo and the Two Strings
Animation studio Laika (Coraline, Paranorman) is responsible for this typically gorgeous 3D stop-motion cartoon about a young boy in ancient Japan with magical powers.
Cinemas around Shanghai.
Arrival
When 12 mysterious spacecraft appear around the world, linguistics professor Louise Banks is tasked with interpreting the language of the apparent alien visitors.
Cinemas around Shanghai.
ART
Into the Heart of the City: Building the Future
As seen at Photofairs 2016, this is the first solo exhibition by self-taught French photographer Nathalie Perakis-Valat. For this series, the artist met with a group of men working on construction sites in Shanghai, in order to collect their stories. It's a feel good show, with unique portrait shots of the workers aiming to encourage a deeper understanding of the people who create the city around us.
Art+ Shanghai Gallery. Until Feb 26. Free.
Shanghai Biennale 2016
The 11th Shanghai Biennale continues at the magnificent Power Station of Art. Hosting over 92 participating artists and collectives from over 40 countries world wide, the event is one of the most important in the city's annual art calendar.
Power Station of Art. Until Mar 12. 20RMB.
Gu Wenda: Journey to the West
Known by some as ‘the hair guy’, Shanghai-born Gu Wenda, age 61, paved the way for a new generation of avant-garde Chinese artists. Since its creation in 1993, his ongoing and most famous project United Nations has seen human hair collected from over 20 countries and then weaved into enormous installations and banners of invented languages. This fascination with themes of national identity, language and culture have fuelled Gu’s exceptional career, inspiring abstract and often radical pieces.This time, Gu is back with an eye-popping installation of 25,000 Chinese lanterns hanging over M21 Art Museum by the Huangpu.
M21 - Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum. Until Feb 15.
CLASSICAL & PERFORMANCE
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Concert
Conductor Daniele Gatti leads one of the world’s best orchestras plays a programme of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (Romantic) and Berg’s Violin Concerto (Wed 18); and Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun and La Mer, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (Thur 19). With violinist Janine Jansen.
Shanghai Oriental Art Center. Wed 18-Thu 19. 7.30pm-9.30pm. 280-2,280RMB.
Sleep No More
Punchdrunk and SMG Live come together to put on the haunting, intoxicating world-famous immersive experience that is Sleep No More - Shakespeare’s Macbeth reimagined as a 1930s film thriller, staged as an epic experiential theatre experience’. In fact, labelling this an experience misses the point – it’s more like visiting another planet. Audiences are encouraged to rifle through drawers, read letters, and open suitcases. They can follow different characters and experience multiple storylines, and then head to the bar if it becomes too much.
The McKinnon Hotel. Until 26 March. 550-650RMB.
Martin Stadtfield Piano Recital
A known Bach interpreter, Martin Stadfeld won the 2002 Leipzig Bach Competition, and released an acclaimed Bach CD two years later. The programme includes Chaconne (Stadfeld trans), Bach’s Goldberg Variations with 14 integrated canons and others.
Shanghai Concert Hall. Sun 22. 7.30pm-11pm. 180-480RMB.
Neeme Järvi & SSO
The head of a musical dynasty, Neeme Järvi is one of today’s most highly respected maestros. He conducts the world’s most prominent orchestras and works alongside soloists of the highest calibre. A prolific recording artist, he has amassed a discography of nearly 500 recordings.
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall. Sat 21. 8pm 180-580RMB.
The Russian Narional Balley: Swan Lake
The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s, when many of the great dancers and choreographers of the Soviet Union's ballet institutions were exercising their new-found creative freedom by starting new, vibrant companies dedicated not only to the timeless tradition of classical Russian Ballet but to invigorate this tradition as the Russians began to accept new developments in the dance from around the world.
Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. Jan 18-21. 7.15pm 280-880RMB.
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