Shanghai in 1997 not only still exists in old photos but also in a Belgian artist’s painting. In an exhibition themed “Convex/Concave: Belgian Contemporary Art”, a piece of artwork depicting Shanghai might be easy to miss due to its size, but for those who look closer and have known Shanghai since near the turn of the century, it gives people a glimmer of the city on June 24, 1997.

Titled “Shanghai, June 24, 1997”, the painting is as small as a notebook. It was created by Francis Alÿs during his stay in Shanghai. In the painting, a boatman wielding a long bamboo spar stands on a black-awning boat on the Huangpu River. He is looking at another boatman, who wears a blue coat and black trousers just like him, reminiscent of a typical countryside scene in Lu Xun’s novels. Lu Xun is a famous Chinese writer commonly considered the “father of modern Chinese literature”.

However, what Francis Alÿs painted is not a scene in the rural suburbs of Shanghai, but a place not far from the downtown.

“The artist uses paintings as travel logs to document what he saw in Shanghai. This is his usual way of creation,” said Dirk Snauwaert, curator of the exhibition. What is also unique about the exhibit is that it is currently being shown adjacent to the Huangpu River, added Dirk, hoping that the river water in 1997 and 2019 can connect through the artwork and make a dialogue.

The exhibition is open in Tank Shanghai until January 12, 2020. Other artists who are exhibiting their works to the Shanghai audience in the show include Harold Ancart, Michaël Borremans, and Jacques Charlier.