Rockbund Art Museum

About the Event

I spend a lot of time walking around the city… The initial concept for a project often emerges during a walk. As an artist, my position is akin to that of a passer-by constantly trying to situate myself in a moving environment. My work is a succession of notes and guides. The invention of a language goes together with the invention of a city. Each of my interventions is another fragment of the story that I am inventing, of the city that I am mapping. --- Francis Alÿs

The Rockbund Art Museum, in collaboration with Fudan Poets Society, will hold a unique event for improvisation of poems under the theme of “Walking around the City,” a signature approach of creation by the Belgian artist Francis Alÿs. After admiring the artist’s works at his first solo exhibition in China held by RAM, members of the Society will walk along different streets near the museum for inspirations and improvise poems based on any of the key words that RAM will provide.

From the Bund packed with tourists to Huqiu Residential Community showcasing everyday life of the Shanghainese, from the East Beijing Road full of hardware retail stores to the Yuanmingyuan Road famous for historic buildings, what inspirations will the poets draw from these diversified urban blocs? 

About the Event

I spend a lot of time walking around the city… The initial concept for a project often emerges during a walk. As an artist, my position is akin to that of a passer-by constantly trying to situate myself in a moving environment. My work is a succession of notes and guides. The invention of a language goes together with the invention of a city. Each of my interventions is another fragment of the story that I am inventing, of the city that I am mapping. --- Francis Alÿs

The Rockbund Art Museum, in collaboration with Fudan Poets Society, will hold a unique event for improvisation of poems under the theme of “Walking around the City,” a signature approach of creation by the Belgian artist Francis Alÿs. After admiring the artist’s works at his first solo exhibition in China held by RAM, members of the Society will walk along different streets near the museum for inspirations and improvise poems based on any of the key words that RAM will provide.

From the Bund packed with tourists to Huqiu Residential Community showcasing everyday life of the Shanghainese, from the East Beijing Road full of hardware retail stores to the Yuanmingyuan Road famous for historic buildings, what inspirations will the poets draw from these diversified urban blocs? 

About Fudan Poets Society

Established on 27th May 1981 coinciding with the 76th anniversary of Fudan University, Fudan Poets Society has nurtured a large number of outstanding poets over its three-decades-long steady development, represented by Xu Demin, Yang Xiaobin, Chen Xianfa, Han Guoqiang, Shi Maosheng, Xu Wucheng, Han Bo, Ma Hua, Xiao Shui, Luo Zhan, Gu Bubai, Xu Xiao, Tian Chi, Mu Shou, Fu Dongdong, Chen Xi, Cao Seng, Zhang Cunji, Wang Dale, Ma Mumu, Wang Zigua, and Zhang Yusi. The Society has made Fudan University a stronghold of China’s modern poetry, and gained a high reputation in the Chinese-language poetry community and the broader general public.

About Fudan Poets Society

Established on 27th May 1981 coinciding with the 76th anniversary of Fudan University, Fudan Poets Society has nurtured a large number of outstanding poets over its three-decades-long steady development, represented by Xu Demin, Yang Xiaobin, Chen Xianfa, Han Guoqiang, Shi Maosheng, Xu Wucheng, Han Bo, Ma Hua, Xiao Shui, Luo Zhan, Gu Bubai, Xu Xiao, Tian Chi, Mu Shou, Fu Dongdong, Chen Xi, Cao Seng, Zhang Cunji, Wang Dale, Ma Mumu, Wang Zigua, and Zhang Yusi. The Society has made Fudan University a stronghold of China’s modern poetry, and gained a high reputation in the Chinese-language poetry community and the broader general public.