A 14-meter-tall Swedish Dala horse will be installed on the waterfront of Shanghai's North Bund as the centerpiece of the exhibition A Cultural Journey Where the Dala Horse Encounters Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage. The exhibition will run from June 14 to Aug 31 at The Grand Halls.

This marks the venue's first public art exhibition, bringing together a beloved Nordic cultural icon and traditional Chinese culture.

The Dala horse dates back to the 17th century, when woodcutters in Sweden's Dalarna province carved small horses from leftover pine wood during the long winter nights and brought them home as gifts for their children, expressing longing and fatherly love.

Zhang Lili, vice-dean of Shanghai University's Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts and curator of the exhibition, said the 14-meter Dala horse will be painted in Chinese red, an auspicious color in Eastern culture strongly associated with Shanghai. She said she hopes that the installation will become a city symbol, much like the giant Rubber Duck on the River Thames.

The Swedish horse is currently being assembled.

The first section of the exhibition will tell the story of the Dala horse as a Swedish national cultural icon. At its center will be a carousel installation, where classic, collectible, and artist-collaboration editions of Dala horses rise, fall, and rotate to music.

Visitors will also have the chance to see the world's smallest Dala horse, according to the exhibition organizers. Created in 2025 by Swedish artists and scientists using focused ion beam carving, the miniature wooden horse is only 7 micrometers long, and its traditional patterns can only be seen under an electron microscope.

The second section will feature about 20 representative intangible cultural heritage projects from across China related to the horse. The displays will follow the traditional Chinese concept of the five elements — metal, wood, water, fire, and earth — based on the materials used in each craft.

Exhibits will include Tang Sancai (three-color glaze) horse pottery figures, carved horse silhouettes used in shadow puppetry, and horse-themed works of Shanghai Gu embroidery.

A highlight will be a bamboo-woven robotic horse created by a team from Shanghai University's Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts in collaboration with bamboo weaving inheritor He Hongbing, with support from Unitree Robotics.

The exhibition will also feature cultural and creative products, themed food, and hands-on activities. Nearby commercial areas such as SMP Mall and North Bund Bay are set to join the exhibition in launching ticket-stub promotions.

A program highlighting contemporary Chinese style and traditional cultural elements, featuring 52 activities such as markets, hands-on experiences, and performances, will be launched during the opening ceremony. Visitors can enjoy discounts at participating venues on the North Bund with exhibition ticket stubs.

The exhibition will also launch themed Shanghai sightseeing buses and double-decker buses in collaboration with local partners.

Early-bird ticket sales began on May 27.

Source: Shanghai Observer