ddm warehouse

DDM warehouse is one of the few non-profit art spaces in Shanghai. Founded by artists and designers seeking an alternative to the commercial flavour of Shanghai’s art scene, this dynamic space has supported an international roster of alternative, visual and performing arts since 2000. In its nine-year existence the space has dazzled Shanghai audiences with an eclectic programme of everything from vanguard installations to dance and music performances to video and other more traditional forms of art. Apart from supporting artists, the space also regularly collaborates with independent curators. One of DDM warehouse’s recent achievements was its participation in the special project section of the 52nd Venice Biennial with the independently curated exhibition Migration Addicts. Originally based in a cavernous warehouse space north of the Bund on Dong Da Ming Road (hence the name DDM warehouse), the company has recently relocated to Huaihai West Road’s Sculpture Center complex. Surrounded by other galleries and creative industries, their self-designed, self-constructed and self-managed building not only houses an impressive exhibition hall but also an artist studio, a café and a spacious window venue. Indeed, the twenty-four-meter long window hosts exhibitions specifically tailored to fit this public venue in an ongoing series known as Art Breathes while the new space’s computer outfitted café serves as a resting place for visitors, a library archiving Chinese contemporary art as well as the headquarters of the organisation’s ambitious online project, ARTLINKART. This website is an extensive and constantly growing database that allows users to cross-reference artistic activity throughout China and the world. In their new digs at the Sculpture Center, DDM has already upped the creative ante for their neighbours.

www.ddmwarehouse.org