A Venice Carnival in Glass Just Landed on the Bund — GLASSTRESS Opens in Shanghai

Venice, by way of the Bund

GLASSTRESS — the travelling exhibition born in Venice in 2009 and shown in New York, London and Stockholm — has landed in Shanghai for the first time, and it has brought the carnival with it. 'Carnival of Venice' (玻璃应力: 流动的威尼斯狂欢) follows the rhythm of a real carnival: you enter through 'the rules of the game,' move through 'role-play' and 'costume parade,' and end by 'taking off the mask.'

The medium is Murano glass — that 700-year-old Venetian craft — pushed by contemporary artists into something between sculpture, light and pure colour. It is one of the more visually dazzling shows on the Bund this season, and an easy yes on a hot or rainy afternoon.

• •First-ever Shanghai showing of GLASSTRESS
• •Venice carnival told in Murano glass
• •Runs through 18 October 2026

What's inside

The show gathers 19 countries' contemporary artists — Tony Cragg, Thomas Schütte, César Baldaccini and others — so even visitors who think of glass as a craft object may leave rethinking it. The room's colour anchor is Sean Scully's 'Venice Stack,' vertical stacks of red, yellow, blue and green glass that refract light into shifting, layered colour as you move past.

Upstairs in the same building, 'A Porcelain, A Colour, A World' (一瓷一色一世界) — the Shanghai Museum's Ming-and-Qing monochrome glaze ceramics — runs concurrently, so Eastern single-colour restraint and Western glass exuberance sit one floor apart. A double-header under one roof.

• •19 countries; artists include Tony Cragg, Thomas Schütte
• •Sean Scully's 'Venice Stack' as the colour anchor
• •Paired with Ming–Qing monochrome ceramics upstairs

Where it is — and why the Bund fits

The Jiushi Art Museum (久事美术馆) sits at 1 East Zhongshan No.1 Road, right on the Bund, with the exhibition on the second floor and the ceramics on the third. It is walkable along the waterfront and a short stroll from the Bund's monuments and river views — so the show slots naturally into a Bund afternoon rather than a separate trip.

There is even a 'Color Walk' activity: spin a colour wheel at the front desk, shoot three matching frames in the galleries or gift shop, post them, and trade up for a 'colour-control' souvenir. It is a small touch that makes the visit feel like play, not a lecture.

• •Jiushi Art Museum, 1 East Zhongshan No.1 Road (Bund)
• •Walkable along the Bund waterfront
• •'Color Walk' souvenir activity on site

Make a Bund day of it

GLASSTRESS is the excuse to finally do the Bund properly. Ten minutes along the promenade takes you past the trading-house facades and the river; pair the glass carnival with a slow walk, a river-view coffee and the late-afternoon light on the water, and you get a Shanghai afternoon that is equal parts culture and postcard.

Our planning note

It is fully indoor and air-conditioned, which makes it an easy pick on a sweltering or stormy August day. The glass rewards close looking, so give yourself an unhurried hour rather than a walk-by — and go on a weekday if you can, when the rooms are calmer.

If the Venice theme leaves you wanting more, the nearby French Concession and the West Bund's galleries are an easy next stop. But for one self-contained, cool, photo-rich Bund afternoon, GLASSTRESS is the most unexpectedly joyful show in town right now.