Just a hop, skip, and jump from The Old Clare lobby, the White Rabbit Gallery awaits as your first and most important destination. Opened in 2009 by philanthropist Judith Neilson, this renowned contemporary art space showcases captivating works by Chinese artists, housed in a former Rolls-Royce service depot where automotive history meets the powerful narratives of groundbreaking, oftentimes highly political, Chinese art. Let’s not forget to mention they also serve very very steamy dumplings and high tea.
The latest exhibition, ‘A Blueprint for Ruins’, reverberates with the shadows of the dispossessed within China’s urban metamorphosis. The artworks guide us toward the remnants of memories woven into the very fabric of each structure, even as the walls crumble. As the artist Hu Weiyi poignantly writes: “It’s as if every abandoned building, about to disappear, is attempting to sing its last note, and eventually they will come together to form a requiem for an era.”
