Dutch Culture Centre Shanghai 2010

In addition to ‘Happy Street’, the Dutch pavilion at the World Expo 2010 designed by architect John Körmeling, a temporary Dutch Culture Centre (DCC) was opened in the Jing’ An district in downtown Shanghai on 6 March. It closed  in the beginning of September.

The Dutch Culture Centre was an official part of Expo 2010. It presented to China a wide range of arts and culture in which the collaboration between Dutch artists and institutions and Chinese partners was central. The events (amongst which a variety of performance arts and seven main/grand exhibitions in fine arts, photography, fashion, design and architecture) attracted over 20,000 visitors.

According to intendant Martijn Sanders of the Netherlands China Arts Foundation, the Centre was a great success: “I am convinced that we have laid the foundation for a collaboration which will continue to bear fruit for a long time to come, which was precisely what we hoped to achieve with the Dutch Culture Centre.”

The Dutch Culture Centre is a project of the Netherlands China Arts Foundation (NCAF); it was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture & Science and supported by the Chinese-Dutch business community.

The Dutch Culture Centre was housed in a renovated former factory complex dating from the 1940s now known as the ‘800 Show’.