2026 JISP

From September 24 to December 31, 2026, the 9th China · Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project (2026 JISP) will take place in Shanghai. Under the theme “Shapes of Becoming,” this edition brings together 33 artist groups from 14 countries, presenting 36 works—nearly 60% of which are by international artists, and nearly 70% of which are newly commissioned. UCCA Lab, under the umbrella of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), will serve as curator for the second consecutive edition.

In 2024, UCCA Lab first served as curator of the China · Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project. Under the theme “Spatial Concerto,” it brought contemporary art practices from different countries, cultures, and creative backgrounds into Jing’an Sculpture Park and surrounding urban spaces. Among them, *Les Nymphéas*—no, *Beautiful Rhapsody* (《美丽的狂想》), specially created by French artist Marc Fornes for Jing’an Sculpture Park, was permanently acquired after the exhibition, becoming a new artistic landmark in Shanghai’s urban space.

Held biennially, JISP also allows sculpture to continuously respond to an ever-changing present.

In 2024, “Spatial Concerto” started from the relationships among different voices in music—mutually constraining, colliding, and resonating—to respond to a complex world composed of different cultures, individuals, and voices. Using sculpture as its medium, the exhibition sought possibilities for coexistence and dialogue amid differences, and rethought the relationships between art, the city, and people.

Two years later, the questions we face have changed. The rapid development of artificial intelligence is transforming people’s habits of thinking and creating, and new modes of knowledge production are taking shape. The relationship between machine intelligence and human wisdom is being rethought, and the boundaries between the virtual and the real, between the authentic and the generated, are becoming increasingly blurred.

Against this backdrop, the significance of sculpture becomes more concrete. As an art form highly dependent on materiality, scale, weight, and space, sculpture must always physically occupy space and establish a connection with the human body. As more and more experiences, images, and even creations emerge from the virtual world, how does sculpture respond to a new reality in the making? How will it redefine its relationship with technology, nature, the city, and people?

With these questions in mind, 2026 JISP proposes its theme—Shapes of Becoming.

Thirty-three artist groups from 14 countries use sculpture as their medium, starting from their own experiences and attending to changes that are ongoing, not yet formed, or fleeting. Some look to the future, others look back at the past; wind and light, the life of a thousand-year-old tree, memories of an urban childhood, the transformation of clay, the starry sky and digital signals… These things, carrying different temporal scales and lived experiences, all acquire forms that can be seen and felt in the works.

The English title “Shapes of Becoming” and the Chinese title “空间涌现” complement each other: the artists do not attempt to offer a unified answer for the times, but rather capture, each through their own way of seeing, the moments in which the world is continuously becoming.

These works from different cultural backgrounds ultimately meet in Jing’an’s public spaces, allowing a constantly emerging reality to reveal different contours.

This edition of JISP further opens urban public space to young artists. A special “Horizon” youth art section will be planned on the central lawn of Jing’an Sculpture Park, presenting newly commissioned works by international young artists under the age of 45. UCCA senior spatial designer Yang Xiaoran has created a special thematic spatial installation, *Surge*, around this edition’s theme, forming an open space that combines work display, public lingering, and experiential functions.

At the same time, JISP, in collaboration with the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts and Shanghai University’s Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, has launched the “Shanghai New Sculpture: The Next Form” unit, calling for works and conducting professional selection among current students and recent graduates. Ultimately, four groups of young creators will be selected to participate in this edition, providing a practical platform for a new generation of artists to move from the academy into urban public space.

From a park, continuing into the city

Publicness has always been a core concern of the China · Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project.

This edition continues to take Jing’an Sculpture Park as its main site, extending outward along two urban spatial axes: Nanjing West Road and Suzhou Creek.

Main exhibition area: Jing’an Sculpture Park

Extended exhibition areas: Jing’an Kerry Centre JAKC, Jing’an Park, Jing’an District Shuangyong Park, Fotografiska Shanghai, Shanghai Suhewan MixC World

About JISP

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Since 2010, the China · Shanghai Jing’an International Sculpture Project has been held in Jing’an, the core area of Shanghai’s urban history and culture. Presented as a biennial, it is a renowned public art and cultural brand in Shanghai and across China. In its first decade, themed “City,” the exhibition told the story of public art’s aesthetic education in Jing’an and Shanghai. Since 2020, the exhibition has entered a new decade under the theme “Space,” shifting its perspective from the city to space and extending its observation from the macro to the micro.

About UCCA Lab

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As a cross-disciplinary platform under the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), UCCA Lab is dedicated to exploring possibilities for diverse artistic collaboration. The platform participates in cultural projects of governments at various levels, working with outstanding brands and cross-cultural creators from different fields to present artistic projects in diverse forms. Through in-depth collaboration, UCCA Lab speaks out in different communities, cities, and countries, conveying the power of contemporary culture and art to broader audiences, while continuously carrying out on-site urban practices and expanding the boundaries of artistic projects.