The fifth Shanghai Biennale opened yesterday with a theme of "Techniques of the Visible."

The grand exhibition, which will last for the next two months, features work from more than 100 artists, half of whom are Chinese.

For the first time, the exhibition will spill over from the Shanghai Art Museum into neighboring People's Park.

A bridge will take visitors over the fence into the park, where media facilities allow spectators to interact with the art installations.

The Chinese version of the Biennale's theme, translated literally, is "Existence of Reflections." The head curator of the event, Xu Jiang, said some space was deliberately left between the Chinese and English expressions.

Thanks to the involvement of curator Sebastian Lopez, a number of artists from Latin American will join the event. This has made possible a contemporary global view of visual art.

This year's show is on a larger scale than ever. And its cost of 11 million yuan (US$1.325 million) is about double the previous event.

"This is not a large budget compared with biennales in Western countries, but we Chinese can't be absent from the world of contemporary art," said Li Xiangyang, executive director of the Shanghai Art Museum.

(China Daily September 29, 2004)