Art attack

More commercial buildings are seeing the value of art in attracting customers and encouraging a creative, fun space. Zhang Kun looks at some of the buildings that are mixing business with pleasure in Shanghai.

Shanghai's luxury shopping malls are no longer satisfied with hanging festive decorations and running sales for promotion and branding. The new hot attraction to lure shoppers is art. Many new malls are reserving prime spaces for art, putting on regular exhibitions and even commissioning works from renowned artists. Real estate developers in China are trying to pair contemporary art with their branding, says Mathieu Borysevicz, a gallery owner and contemporary art curator from the United States based in Shanghai. He was one of four curators who put together an exhibition to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Shanghai World Financial Center in the heart of the Lujiazui financial area.

Leo Xu, a curator and owner of Leo Xu Projects, has worked with several shopping malls and office buildings in Shanghai, curating art shows and designing art projects.