Yes, May really has arrived - the month where it can go from chilly to plum rains to glorious early-summer sunshine, and possibly in the same day. Shanghai is booming with activities this month, from one of the biggest hip hop bills the city has seen to theatrical performances at Japanese joint Anthologia and international athletics at Shanghai Stadium. Here are your highlights.
A long week of short films
Kan-Kan Media is bringing its ten-day independent film festival to Shanghai this month, promising an array of viewing at a variety of venues around the city. More than 200 short films from more than 60 different countries will be shown, with a series of workshops and other satellite events expected too. This year, the focus is on the discovery and promotion of emerging talents, so look out for plenty of fresh new names.
A Long Week of Short Films will be held from Thursday 5 to Sunday 15. For more information, visit their website kankanmedia.org/festival.
Stones Throw's celebration
Now here's one sizeable line-up. Earl Sweatshirt, Peanut Butter Wolf, Knxwledge and Egyptian Lover in Shanghai – any one of them on their own would be a big booking; the four of them on the same night is almost ridiculous. But they’re coming alright, and are in town as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of influential West-coast hip-hop label Stones Throw Records.
It's the same night as the Cozy boys aka A$AP J Scott and A$AP Lou come to Arkham. The pair of DJs are repping the A$AP mob in Asia fresh off playing a Tokyo block party with Skepta, YG, A-Trak and YetiOut’s own Arthur Yeti.
Stones Throw 20th anniversary is at The Shelter on Friday 6 at 10pm. Tickets are 150RMB. Cozy Boys play at Arkham on Friday 6 at 10pm. Ticket prices to be announced.
A legendary conductor
The Korean conductor performs works of contemporary composer Arvo Pärt, featuring Jia Ran on piano. His Shanghai piano programme includes Debussy, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Schumann and Mozart, while his orchestral line-up is Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 and Arvo Pärt’s Credo and Fratres.
Myung-whun Chung is with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra on Friday 6 at 8pm (tickets are 180-580RMB) and gives a solo piano recital on Saturday 7 at 8pm (tickets are 80-300RMB), both at Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall.
Be amazed at Psychoprosa
In his first solo exhibition in China, Austrian artist Thomas Feuerstein edges towards the boundaries of the pervasive question: ‘What is art?’ Through a permeation of green slime, this weird and wonderful set of installations allows the observer to embark on a futuristic journey that blurs the lines between science and art. This exhibition is worth a gawk for the sheer scale of slime alone.
Psychoprosa is at Chronus Art Center until June 26. Entry is free.
Creepy rock with Jajatao
Take one look at frontman Liu Yucao’s floor-length skirt, wooly cardigan and tragically smeared red lipstick, and you know that Jajatao is a different kind of band. The Beijing-based grungey thrash-rock act, whose most recent album was helmed by one-time Radiohead producer Sean Slade, hit town for what ought to be a raucous night at Yuyintang. Read more in the interview with Time Out Beijing online.
Jajatao perform at Yuyintang on Saturday 7. Ticket prices to be announced.
Diamond League athletics
The annual track and field event hits the city once again this month, with Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, Renaud Lavillenie and David Oliver among those competing.
IAAF Diamond League Shanghai is at the Shanghai Stadium on Saturday 14. Tickets are available now via the damai site from 50RMB to 680RMB.
Be captivated by Ratatat
Explosive Brooklyn electronic rock duo Mike Stroud and Evan Mast have been blowing audiences away for 15 years now, but their rock and electronic project Ratatat is showing no signs of losing momentum any time soon. Anyone who witnessed their packed out 2009 Shanghai debut at the old Zhijiang Dream Factory can attest to their euphoric performance. This time, they are returning to Shanghai as part of a China tour put together by the people at VICE magazine.
Ratatat play at Mao Livehouse on Saturday 14. Tickets are 150RMB.
Get hyped at MYTH
Modern Sky, the organisers behind Strawberry Festival, are bringing a new electronic music festival this month. MYTH Electronic Music Festival will hosta pair of international headliners: American producer and one half of Major Lazer Diplo, who won a Grammy for his work on Justin Bieber's 'Where are Ü now'; and Canadian duo DVBBS (pronounced 'dubs'). Joining them on the bill are British d'n'b pioneer Goldie and Austalian EDM duo Knife Party, with Chinese acts including Ben Huang and Mickey Zhang.
MYTH Festival is at Expo Garden Park on May 14-15. Early bird two-day tickets 520RMB, Presale one-day 340RMB, Presale two-day 620RMB. Tickets are on sale via the Damai website.
Chen Tianzhuo's Trayastrimsa
In 2014, artist Chen Tianzhuo told Time Out that he’d lost his passion for fashion, and wasn’t ‘going to do that again'. Come May 2016, the Fine Art post-graduate is unveiling his new performance-heavy exhibition at K11, saying that he wants 'complete and utter disorder'.
His new exhibition will mix various media, from traditional painting and video to installation and performance. The artist uses colourful, brash imagery to indiscriminately comment on controversial themes shared by a global youth culture. For this latest appearance in Shanghai, his K11 opening this month will be followed by an afterparty at Arkham, featuring performances from his crew, and serving as a launch for his new ‘fashion,accessory and party’ label, Asian Dope Boys. If his own hype is anything to go by, we can expect it to be ‘super, super dope’.
Chen Tianzhuo’s Trayastrimsa is at K11 from Saturday 21 to June 30. The opening is at 7.30pm on Saturday 21; entry is free. The afterparty at Arkham will start at 10pm; entry is 100RMB.
Damien Rice at the SSO
Singer-songwriter Damien Rice, best known for hits such as 'Cannonball' from his platinum-selling album O, performs at the Shanghai Symphony Hall' as part of Split Works and the SSO's Contemporale series. There was huge demand, with tickets to his 7.30pm show reportedly selling out in just 45 minutes, resulting in an additional show being squeezed in in the afternoon.
Damien Rice plays the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Hall on Sunday 22 at 3pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are 280-680RMB.
Whose Line Is It Anyway?
The Punchline Comedy Club brings seminal improvisational show Whose Line Is It Anyway? to the Shanghai stage for three nights of live short-form improv sketches. If you’re one for light-hearted comic relief, unscripted entertainment, ’90s nostalgia and getting involved with the action, it might just be the best show you’ll see this year.
For the Shanghai show, The Punchline Comedy Club brings together British comedians and actors of the show's past, including Steve Frost (also known for his performances on Blackadder and The Young Ones), Steve Steen (a UK panel show mainstay), Andy Smart (a featured player at The Comedy Store in London) and Ian Coppinger (regular guest with the Comedy Store Players) for a two-hour show of classic gags from the TV show alongside a fresh batch of sketches.
Whose Line Is It Anyway? is on Thursday 26, Friday 27 and Saturday 28 at Zapata’s, Pudong Shangri-La and Kerry Hotel Pudong respectively, priced 290RMB.