Prada presents “Lake Tai”, a project by Michael Wang, with the support of Fondazione Prada. The exhibition will be displayed from November 10, 2022 to January 8, 2023 at Prada Rong Zhai, a 1918 historic residence in Shanghai restored by Prada.
In his practice Michael Wang (1981, Olney, Maryland, USA) uses systems that operate on a global scale as media for art: climate change, species distribution, resource allocation and the global economy. For this project, he creates a series of works that look to the natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Tai region and engage the history of Chinese landscape arts.
"Lake Tai" will be on view from November 10, 2022 to January 8, 2023.
PRADA RONG ZHAI No. 186 North Shaan Xi Road
Jing’an District, Shanghai
EXHIBITION HOURS Tuesday to Sunday: 10am - 6pm
Closed on Monday
'Tap to discover'
The Lake Tai region is home to many of China’s most celebrated historic gardens. It is a spiritual center for Chinese landscape traditions that celebrate the harmonious relationship between humans and the natural world. This connection has been dramatically changed in recent times, as revealed by global phenomena like climate change and mass extinction. From the late 1990s, algal blooms turned the lake’s transparent waters green, but intensive remediation efforts have largely cleared the waters in the past few years.
Michael Wang presents a series of sculptures and installations on the first floor and in the external garden of Prada Rong Zhai. Reimagining the classical traditions of the “scholar’s rock” and the erudite arrangement of flowers, they stem from the massive reclamation efforts that have changed the lake and river in recent years.
This exhibition, and particularly the Taihu (Stones) series, benefits from research in collaboration with students from Tongji University in Shanghai. They have supported Michael Wang in site exploration, material collection, testing, and fabrication. Their collaboration focused on experimentation with new sustainable materials created from organic and industrial wastes.
Michael Wang (1981, Olney, Maryland, USA) lives and works in New York. He received his BA in Social Anthropology and Visual & Environmental Studies from Harvard University in 2003 an MA in Performance Studies from New York University in 2004, and an M.Arch from Princeton University in 2008.
Wang’s work was included in Shanghai Biennale in 2021, LMCC's Arts Center at Governors Island, New York, USA, Manifesta 12 in Palermo, Italy (2018) and the XX Bienal de Arquitectura y Urbanismo in Valparaíso, Chile (2017). In 2017, he was a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters & Sculptors Grant. He has taught at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation and Planning, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, and Yale’s School of Architecture.
