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Moderne and Modernity

UC Berkeley presents a one day conference to explore the visual forms and images current in Shanghai in the first third of the twentieth century, and what these reveal, suggest, or obscure.

When:
March 6, 2010 9:00am to 6:00pm
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Wen-hsin Yeh, Director, Institute of East Asian Studies
Jay Xu and Michael Knight, Asian Art Museum
Kuiyi Shen, UC San Diego
Jeff Wasserstrom, UC Irvine
Renee Chow, UC Berkeley
Catherine Yeh, Boston University
Lisa Claypool, Reed College
Nancy Berliner, Peabody Essex Musuem
Ellen Johnston Laing, University of Michegan
Joan Judge, York University

For an awakening China just emerging from the Qing dynasty, Shanghai came to embody  the promise of modernity.  Its new architecture, the Style Moderne, or Art Deco as it is now known, was the emblem what was new and foreign, in ideas as well as form. This conference explores the visual forms and images current in Shanghai in the first third of the twentieth century, and what these reveal, suggest, or obscure.  The city's architecture and urban spaces; the economic underpinnings in foreign trade, commerce, labor, and leisure; the words and images Shanghai's populace consumed; and the new roles for women, youth, the family, and the citizen the city enabled; all contributed to create the ideal and the reality that was Shanghai.

Organized by Wen-hisn Yeh, Director, Institute of East Asian Studies. Speakers include Jay Xu and Michael Knight (Asian Art Museum), Kuiyi Shen (UC San Diego), Jeff Wasserstrom (UC Irvine), Renee Chow (UC Berkeley), Catherine Yeh (Boston University), Lisa Claypool (Reed College), Nancy Berliner (Peabody Essex Museum), Ellen Johnston Laing (University of Michigan), and Joan Judge (York University).