Double Infinity, a joint initiative by the Van Abbemuseum and Arthub Asia, will open at the Dutch Culture Centre in Shanghai, parallel to the World Expo 2010. Double Infinity is a collaborative encounter between a north-western European art museum and an Asian art initiative and comprises of an exhibition, a performance series, a lecture programme and a publication. Double Infinity marks the first time that a European museum opens itself and its collection to the responses of artists living and working in China – responses that form a host of enriching, humorous and critical insights. The festive opening of the programme on the 29th of April 2010 will be conducted by Eric Verwaal, the Consul-General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Shanghai and will feature a performance by Zhou Xiaohu. On the 15th and 16th of May an extensive public programme with discussions and performances by Julika Rudelius and Surasi Kusolwong, and others, will be held at the theatre in the Dutch Culture Centre, Shanghai.

The project is organised on occasion of John Körmeling’s design of the Dutch Pavilion, Happy Street, at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. It seeks to bring two states and cities – China and the Netherlands, Shanghai and Eindhoven– into an imagined dialogue with each other, drawing on their everyday realities and uniqueness. Equally, Double Infinity focuses on artists’ visions of cities and citizenship, real and imagined architectures and the claims of cosmopolitanism made by world exhibitions through history and across continents.

Participating artists: Lara Almacergui, Johanna Billing, Stanley Brouwn, Comfortable Collective (Jin Shan, Gao Mingyan, Li Mu, Maya Kramer), Alicia Framis, Liu Gang, HHD_FUN (Wang Zhenfei & Wang Luming), Job Koelewijn, John Körmeling, Surasi Kusolwong, El Lissitzky, David Maljkovic, Julika Rudelius, Speedism, Xu Tan, Zhou Xiaohu, Chen Shaoxiong, Gimhongsok, Tsuyoshi Ozawa.

Performances by Surasi Kusolwong, Julika Rudelius, Zhou Xiaohu.

Publication: Joost Grootens (design), Clare Butcher (editor), Ingmar Swalue (photography), Jiang Jun (text and photography), texts by the curators Charles Esche, Defne Ayas, Davide Quadrio and Remco de Blaaij.

Curators: Charles Esche, Defne Ayas, Davide Quadrio, Remco de Blaaij.

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