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