The 7th Shanghai International Artwork Trade Week concluded on Nov 17, marking five days of vibrant art exhibitions, transactions, and cultural exchange that reaffirmed the city's rising stature as a global art market hub.

The program brought together major events such as the Art021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, which recorded its highest-ever attendance across four days, and the Westbund Art & Design Fair, which extended select exhibits through Nov 18.

Collectors, artists, galleries, and art enthusiasts from around the world converged on the city for what has become one of Asia’s most dynamic art movements.

Xiaole, a 23-year-old graduate student visiting ART021 for the first time, described the fair as overwhelming in the best sense. "Every exhibit at ART021 was vying for my attention", she said. After more than four hours exploring the fair, she said she was taken aback by how quickly time had passed.

Galleries reported robust sales at ART021. International exhibitors such as David Zwirner noted strong demand for works by Huma Bhabha and Joe Bradley, while Galerie Perrotin, said that nearly half of its pieces were reserved on the VIP preview day.

According to Wang Beili, Asia Director at Galerie Mennour, ART021 offered a high-quality transaction platform, with roughly 60 percent to 70 percent of the gallery's artworks sold within the four days.

The week also saw the launch of the "2025 West Bund Week", an initiative that aims to create a "wall-less" art and design event along the Huangpu River. The project seeks to merge professional exhibitions with a variety of public venues to further incorporate art into the daily lives of Shanghai residents.

For the Ying Center for Contemporary Art, which made its ART021 debut this year, art fairs are not only commercial platforms but also vital stages for presenting academic research, said art director Yu Ying.

Xia Jifeng, founder of the Hive Center for Contemporary Art and a 13-time participant, noted the vigor of the collector base this year, revealing that more than two-thirds of the center's artworks had already been sold.

The Westbund Art & Design Fair further expanded its footprint by relocating its main "galleries" section to the newly opened West Bund International Convention Exhibition Center, a landmark designed by US architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

This year's fair featured nearly 200 galleries from across the globe presenting works by over 1,000 artists from 65 countries and regions.

Source: Shanghai Observer