Chinese artists make a point at Westwood's Shanghai exhibition

Chinese curator Song Zhenxi wanted to impress fashion designer Vivienne Westwood at her first cross-over exhibition in China called Get A Life!.

The show, which opened on Dec 20 and runs through Feb 28 at K11 Art Mall in Shanghai, presents the British designer's cutting-edge collections and campaigns as dialogue with contemporary Chinese art.

So, Song put together seven contemporary Chinese artists' works in the Monument of the Peach Blossom Valley exhibition.

"Vivienne Westwood is a bold and pioneering brand, which tends to advocate ideas such as freedom and anarchy," Song says about his collaboration with the British fashion house.

The fashion brand is closely tied with social activities, instead of just being a luxury label for visual exploration, he says.

Westwood, 75, is best known for bringing fashion punk and new-wave styles into the mainstream as well as her involvement in campaigns for nuclear disarmament and climate change.

The exhibition opens with a handwritten note by the designer at the entrance, which says: "My enemy is the status quo ... The solution is switch to green energy!"

The note is signed by Vivienne Westwood, Fashion designer and activist.

Get A Life! features images and items from Westwood's work spanning 40 years, demonstrating how her political and environmental campaigns translate into runway shows.

Also on display are her hand-drawn illustrations, maps and a series of more than 60 portraits of celebrities from Westwood's Save the Arctic campaign, photographed by Andy Gotts MBE.

Song, the Chinese curator, resisted the temptation of presenting environmentally themed work or pieces made using recycled materials.

Instead, he wants to explore in-depth ideas.

"Westwood emphasizes the equal co-existence of humanity and nature," he says.

"So, what stands between humanity and nature? What hinders our efforts?"

The artists he chose contributed their thoughts.

Sun Xun, for example, focuses on people and politics, while Wei Honglei focuses on the divergence of ideas.

Wu Junyong created video works about the web of life.

"These works reveal why environmental protection is hard and what we should do," says Song, who took the exhibition title from Chinese literature, which describes a utopia called Peach Blossom Valley.

Adrian Cheng, the founder of K11 and the K11 Art Foundation, says the exhibition is "one-of-a-kind" and "groundbreaking". Cheng hopes it can "inspire cultural exchanges and creative exploration", while "epitomizing" his own vision of the artisanal movement encapsulated in the slogan: "We create. We are artisans."

If you go

Vivienne Westwood: Get A Life!

Monument of the Peach Blossom Valley

10 am-8 pm (last entrance at 7:30 pm); 10 am-6 pm, Wednesday and Thursday (last entrance at 5 pm); through Feb 28. B3, K11 Art Mall, 300 Huaihai Road Middle, Huangpu district, Shanghai.

zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn