ARTRA's public project "Urban Exploration", as an important practice of the China Shanghai International Arts Festival's "Art in Urban Renewal", invites artists to create customised venues for Shanghai's iconic buildings full of historical heritage, to stimulate the revitalisation and rebirth of urban spaces, to renew the cityscape that citizens take for granted in an artistic way, to allow art to penetrate into new and more diversified venues, and to imagine and create new possibilities for public art.

The newest invited work in the "Urban Exploration" public programme is "Not the Moon", a large-scale public light installation created by MAD Architects, led by renowned architect MA Yansong. The artist has customized a new helium balloon with a diameter of 6 meters for this project. The balloon rises to a height of about 10 meters above the ground, and through the ever-changing multimedia images from abstract to figurative, the balloon cracks, rotates, disperses, and gathers together in multiple dimensions, generating a moon full of vitality by combining art and technology, and displaying the multi-dimensional expression of the contemporary city in the era of new media, thus triggering the public's cultural empathy in the real space of the city. It triggers the public's cultural empathy in the real space of the city, thus bringing people closer to each other, art to the city, and art to life.

Artist：MA Yansong

Beijing-born architect MA Yansong is recognized as an important voice in the new generation of architects. He is the first Chinese architect to win an overseas landmark-building project. As the founder of MAD Architects, MA leads design across various scales, with the vision to create a new balance among society, the city, and the environment through architecture. Since designing the “Floating Island” in 2002, Ma has been exploring the ideal future of living through international practices. At MAD, MA has created a series of imaginative works, including Absolute Towers, Harbin Opera House, Hutong Bubbles, Chaoyang Park Plaza, Quzhou Sports Park, and Yiwu Grand Theater. In 2014, Ma was selected as the principal designer for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which made him the first Chinese architect to design an overseas culture landmark. Parallel to his design practice, he also explores the cultural values of cities and architecture through domestic and international solo exhibitions, publications, and art works.