Art beat in August

Space for air

[Photo/China Daily]

Japanese designer and architect Kengo Kuma is having a solo exhibition at Himalayas Museum. Through his work, Kuma aims to recover the tradition of Japanese buildings and to reinterpret them for the 21st century. In the densely populated modern cities, buildings cram together, leaving no space for air. Kuma tried all means to make room for space between particles of human existence. He believed this will bring freedom to modern buildings. The exhibition will be presented in two partsat two venues.

10 am-6 pm, July 6-Aug 22. Himalayas Museum, 3F, A Zone, Himalayas Center, 869 Yinghua Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. 021-5033-9801.

10 am-6 pm, July 24-Sept 15. Shanghai Zendai Himalayas Art Museum - Zendai Contemporary Art Space, 1436 Jungong Road, Shanghai. 021-3612-0988.

Chinese writings

The Chinese Characters Exhibition continues through Sept 15 in the Capital Museum of Beijing. Organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the government of Henan province, the exhibition displays the history of development of the Chinese characters. The exhibition will also be presented in Canada, Uzbekistan and Nepal, with a series of seminars focusing on the arts of Chinese character and calligraphy.

9 am-5 pm, until Sept 15. Capital Museum, Fuxingmenwai Street, Xicheng district, Beijing. 010-6337-0491.

Paintings depict law of the jungle

Soka Art Center is presenting two solo exhibitions of young artists, Zhao Bo and Xun Guipin. The paintings of Zhao, 29, examine the birth and death in the nature, the law of the jungle and the continuous transformation of energy. Xun, 28, was born, raised and educated in Yunnan province. His paintings convey a strong yearning for things that are lost in the midst of urbanization.

10 am-6 pm, closed on Monday, until Sept 15. Soka Art Center, 798 Art District, 4 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district. 010-5978-4808.

Creativity with feminine characteristics

Female contemporary artist Yin Xiuzhen's current solo exhibition at Pace Beijing, Nowhere to Land, continues to showcase her imaginative integration of personal stuff with collective memories and public space. She reveals the drastic changes, rough realties and unpredictable sides of modern Chinese society in her latest works on show. Yin's artworks give evidence of her persona as a modest, nostalgic and vulnerable woman.

10 am-6 pm, Tuesday to Saturday, until Sept 28. Pace Beijing, 798 Art District, 2 Jiuxianqiao Road, Chaoyang district. 010-5968-9781.

Dreams come true

[Photo/China Daily]

Shrek, Fiona, Po the panda, Alex the lion and other Madagascar creatures will descend upon Macao this summer as DreamWorks Animations and Sands Chinateam up to give the entire family interactivemovieexperiences. The DreamWorks Experience at Cotai Strip Resorts includes a meet-and-greet with favorite characters from DreamWorks movies at Sands Cotai Central's Paradise Gardens, daily all-star parades, and poolside movie nights at Sheraton Macao Hotel and Holiday Inn Macao Cotai Central on weekends. Those who stay at either hotel can have "Shrekfast" with the DreamWorks gang.

Until Sept 30. Cotai Central, Cotai Strip, Taipa. 853-2882-9188.

Jurassic summer

[Photo/China Daily]

Travel back in time when gigantic beasts ruled the planet. Dinosaurs Live tromps into Macao after successfully invading Europe and other partsof Asia. Thirty animatronic dinosaurs will move and roar in a replicated jungle setting to show how the creatures used to live. Kids can ride on the backs of a few; there will be a 3-D dinosaurfilmand a DinoStore for fans.

11 am-8 pm, daily until Oct 1. CotaiExpo Hall F, The Venetian Macao, Estrada da Baia de Nossa Senhora da Esperanza, Cotai. 853-2882-8818

Britpop stalwarts return for nationwide tour

[Photo/China Daily]

Britpop group Suede's show in Beijing, months before the band split in 2003, proved they had a huge following in the Middle Kingdom. The band later reformed and returned to China in 2011, receiving high praise from critics and audiences. Now, the pop legends led by Brett Anderson are touring Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou in October as part of their Asian tour.

8 pm. Oct 1. At Sun Yet-San Memorial Hall in Guangzhou. Oct 3. At Shanghai Stadium. Oct 5. At Beijing Workers' Gymnasium. 400-610-372.

Rui's treasures

Suzhou Museum is holding a special exhibition of treasures from the kingdom of Rui in Zhou Dynasty from 7th century BC, unearthed from Hancheng of Shaanxi province. The excavation of the noble tombs of Rui kingdom took five years and resulted in one of the most important discoveries for the year 2005. The exhibition in Suzhou features 49 sets of gold, jade, bronze and more. Audiences will catch a glimpse of the civilization and fine crafts of ancient China.

9 am-5 pm, Tuesday-Sunday, July 9-Oct 7. Suzhou Museum, 204 Dongbei Street, Pingjiang district, Suzhou, Jiangsu province. 0512-6757-6011.

Beauty of twin cities

Miguel de Cervantes Library, the Cultural Section of the Consulate General of Spain in Shanghai, is presenting an exhibition of Antoni Miralda. The show outlines the creative processes of Twin Flavors / Twin Tongues, the installation that the Spanish artist presented at the Barcelona Pavilion in the last Shanghai Biennale. This is a set of photographs, sketches and videos that trace a dialogue between the different culinary traditions of Barcelona and Shanghai, twin cities since 2001.

10 am-7 pm, July 7-Oct 7. Miguel de Cervantes Library, 198-208 Anfu Road. 021-5467-0098