At the first exhibition at Rockbund Art Museum of this year, Singaporean artist Heman Chong completely turns the museum space into mysterious scenarios, which await every possible interpretation from visitors.

Born in 1977, Chong works with image, performance, situations and writing, which continuously interrogate the many functions of the production of narratives in people's daily lives.

On the first floor, the former souvenir shop of the museum is transformed into a bookstore named Legal Bookshop (Shanghai, pictured below).

To "build" the shop, Chong signed a contract with Chinese lawyer and writer Liu Ken to commission him to select goods for the shop.

"I want you to interpret the idea of 'the law' when you think about this list," wrote Chong in an invitation letter to Liu, noting that every book about the broad meaning of "law" is welcome.

Thus at the exhibition, visitors can not only see Chinese law textbooks, but also computer programming books and manuals for video games.

The bookstore seems to have a very rational appearance for its serious theme. However, it also embraces randomness thanks to Liu's objective choices.

This creates an artistic tension. Moreover, all the books are available for sale during the exhibition.

Chong has also set up such bookshops with different themes in other cities around the world.

He is interested in the circulation of books, which is also the circulation of ideas that make people readers, viewers, writers and artists.

Fiction and reality

Departing from the bookstore and climbing upwards through the museum, visitors may find there is always an interesting artistic tension created by the artist by juxtaposing elements that often stand opposed to each other, for instance, fiction and reality.

The Mysterious Island (above) is a small forest made up of 40 artificial peach trees set inside a blue space which resembles a shooting studio for filmmaking.

According to Chong, the work takes inspiration from ancient Chinese literature work The Record of the Peach Blossom, which depicts a utopian society where people are passionate and happy.

All the peach blossoms were bought from taobao.com, and the trunks and branches were found at construction sites across China.

However, all these cheap and raw materials seem to pull people together when they depict a beautiful and auspicious scene, no matter how fake it looks.

It's about how people dream about real things based on fake things, said Li Qi, curator of the exhibition.

Singaporean artist Heman Chong completely turns the exhibition space into mysterious scenarios, which await every possible interpretation from visitors. Photos: Courtesy of the venue

Writing about life

Many of Chong's works revolve around the act of writing. The artist's personal website has nothing but a piece of fiction he wrote during a writing workshop in Hong Kong.

Chong persists in writing, although he finds it a difficult process full of struggle.

The Papaya Daily (above) showcases a collection of short stories written by an anonymous gossip columnist of 10 years. People can't tell the authenticity of his output.

For Chong, writing enables him to connect with people, and sometimes he will even curse in his writing because he thinks that links people in a more straightforward and simple way.

The exhibition is entitled Ifs, Ands, or Buts, which literally consists of the most common conjunctions people use in writing, as well as the daily dialogues of their lives.

It seems to be a most honest response to life from the artist, who embraces all possibilities in life and then delivers them to other people.

Li Qi, the curator, says the exhibition is akin to an open-ended piece of fiction written by Chong.

Heman Chong's different works become different chapters with distinctive characteristics, and every viewer will walk away with their very own interpretation.

Date: Until May 3, 10 am to 6 pm (Sunday to Tuesday), 10 am to 9 pm (Wednesday to Saturday)

Venue: Rockbund Art Museum

Address: 20 Huqiu Road 虎丘路20号

Admission: 30 yuan ($4.56)

Call 5404-7702 for details