Probably the quietest art venue in Shanghai, the Yang Yexin Art Center recently opened in one of the city's art hubs, the M50.

Visitors are not allowed to talk once entering the exhibition that features a cluster of Yang's past artworks, varying from digital art, performance art, to work in the metaverse.

"Today we are in a social context of extreme excitement and agitation, the world is like a tinderbox, and 'no talking' is perhaps the best cure in this era," Yang said. "This is also the reason why I set up this art center, as the exhibition itself is just a kind of performance art."

Yang launched the performance piece "No Talking Today" on April 2, 2014, for One Foundation, calling on the Chinese people to speak up for the autistic community by keeping silent on World Autism Day.

It is estimated that more than 1.6 million Chinese people joined the action, including celebrities such as Jet Li and Jack Ma.

During the 2014 Shanghai Biennale, Yang also invited 100 young artists to participate in "No Talking Today," which criticized contemporary art for being divorced from society and becoming the self-justifying medium of a few.

One impressive artwork at the exhibition is "A shirt to remember."

In memory of his father who passed away three years ago, Yang projected a video of his father playing erhu (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle), which was taken during his lifetime, onto an old shirt worn by his father during the Qingming Festival in 2018.

At the exhibition, the old shirt is hung in dim light, and Yang's father "returns" on the shirt, performing a sobbing song, well manifesting the relationship between life and death, father and son.

Exhibit info:

Date: Through August 31 (closed on Mondays), 10am-6pm

Venue: Yang Yexin Art Center

Address: Rm101, Bldg 4A, 50 Moganshan Rd

莫干山路50号4A-101室

Source: City News Service