In the Heart of Shanghai, a Park Became a Free, Day-and-Night Sculpture Show

A park that decided to stay open all night

Every autumn, Shanghai does something quietly generous with one of its central parks. The 9th Jing'an International Sculpture Exhibition (第九届上海静安国际雕塑展) has taken over Jing'an Sculpture Park and a scatter of public spaces along Nanjing West Road and the Jing'an stretch of Suzhou Creek, then left them open — free, unticketed and around the clock — through the end of December.

This is not a white-walled museum you queue for. It is 36 works by 33 artists from 14 countries, set into lawns, groves, the water's edge and the streets around them. More than sixty percent of the pieces are by international artists, and nearly seventy percent were made specifically for this edition, so what you meet here is not a touring show you could catch anywhere else.

What actually makes it worth the walk

The hook is the double life. By day the park reads as a wooded gallery: sunlight through the canopy, sculpture resting in grass and water, the city humming just beyond the hedges. After dark, a different show begins. Light, projection and sound switch on across the works, and the same pieces that looked calm at noon turn atmospheric, even a little uncanny, against the night.

A few are worth planning around. Tony Cragg's towering Industrial Nature anchors the main lawn. Wang Yi's light piece Everything in a Moment and Iliyar's Dream Shell are built for the evening, when their projections come alive. Liao Xiaozhou's Expedition That Reaches Nowhere sits among the trees like a question. None of it asks you to know the theory — the point is to walk, look, and let the city do the explaining.

• •36 works by 33 artists from 14 countries
• •Free and open 24 hours through 31 December 2026
• •Day and night are two different exhibitions

Build a slow afternoon around it

Jing'an Sculpture Park sits at 128 Shimen Er Road, a flat, central, walkable corner of the city. The exhibition spills outward on purpose: the restored shikumen lanes of Zhang Yuan (张园) have been folded in as an extension, the Fotografiska image centre is a short step away, and Nanjing West Road with its Suzhou Creek frontage form an extended open-air wing.

It pairs naturally with an autumn citywalk. The Shanghai Natural History Museum sits inside the park itself, so a morning with the dinosaurs and an afternoon among the sculptures is an easy, weather-proof plan. And because the show runs into December, you can catch it on a clear day or come back for the lit version after dinner — both are the intended experience.

Let someone read the city aloud

The gift of an open-air exhibition is that it rewards a wandering eye; the gift of a guided day is that it hands you the context underneath. Pair an aimless afternoon among the sculptures with one structured walk, and you leave with both the spontaneity and the story.

Before you go

It is free and open all hours, so there is no bad time — but two small things help. The night light installations run until about 21:00, so arrive before then if the after-dark version is what you came for. And the first weekend of the show (7–9 November) brings rain to Shanghai, so waterproof shoes and a folded plan for the indoor Natural History Museum make a wet afternoon painless.

• •Night lights run until about 21:00 each evening
• •Free entry, no booking required
• •Wet weekend of 7–9 Nov — pack for rain