Graffiti

Graffiti is a common aspect of urban life, yet strikingly absent in Shanghai.  Until, that is, we visited M50.  M50 is an abandoned cluster of industrial buildings (I believe an old textile mill) that were adopted by a few local artists about ten years ago.  Over the span of a decade, the space has transformed into the hottest art scene in Shanghai, where fledgling artists are neighbors with the established elite, messy studios sit above fancy galleries, and every type of artist -- sculptors, painters, architects, graphic designers -- all feed off the creative energy that pulses through the old drab warehouses.  We spent a recent afternoon wandering through the space's galleries, bookshop, and cafe, and emerged to find this: a quiet street, a crumbling wall, and lots of graffiti.

It seems M50 does indeed attract all kinds of artists.