Modern Art Museum (MAM) Shanghai Celebrates Opening of Zaha Hadid Exhibition with Remote Celebration at One Thousand Museum

Photography by Ryan Troy on July 7th, 2021 in Lifestyle

Miami, FL – July 7, 2021 – The ground-breaking exhibition of Zaha Hadid Architects, ‘ZHA Close Up’, officially launched at Modern Art Museum Shanghai (MAM), complemented by satellite events at ZHA legacy properties in New York and Miami. A third launch will take place in London in late July. The invitation-only celebrations took place simultaneously on July 7, 2021 at 520W28 in New York City and One Thousand Museum in Miami.

Guests were shown a live feed video from the exhibition as well as special greetings from Zaha Hadid Architects CEO Patrik Schumacher, and MAM’s Artistic Director Shai Baitel. A ZH Inspired dessert was served, especially created by MAM Shanghai’s food and beverage director, Shahaf Shabtay, as each evening was set to be a feast for the senses, combining cultures from East and West to create an immersive experience.

“We are thrilled to have launched such a historic exhibition to celebrate the genius of Zaha Hadid” said Baitel. “Hadid was one of the most important architects of our time and we are honored to continue her legacy. Our team worked tirelessly for months to work on a transcontinental event that lived up to the works of such an incredible woman.”

‘ZHA Close Up’ at MAM Shanghai explores the pioneering research and interconnecting relationships that unite ZHA Architects’ projects around the globe, detailing the technological innovations that are transforming how the studio imagines, designs and construct built environments. The exhibition contains a retrospective display of projects dating from 1982 to today, from MAXXI Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome (2010) and Leeza SOHO in Beijing (2019) to the studio’s ground-breaking projects currently in development across six continents. The exhibition also presents limited-edition projects from Zaha Hadid Design (ZHD), which exemplify Hadid’s inventive methodology and signature design in furniture, lighting and fashion. Each piece effortlessly conveys immaculate craftsmanship and Hadid’s virtuosity with fluid geometry.

“We are excited to include, as part of our interdisciplinary and immersive approach at MAM, this important exhibition, celebrating Zaha Hadid’s ingenuity. Hadid was an exceptional woman, and we are delighted to show our audience the development of her movement as a researcher, designer, and architect through various geographies and histories—and how this movement impacts the current innovative vision and work of Zaha Hadid Architects, following her untimely passing in 2016”. Baitel added, “Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) continues and expands on her legacy and MAM is proud to present this show, granting unprecedented insights into the vision of the first woman architect to receive the Pritzker Prize of Architecture.”

Patrik Schumacher, Principal, Zaha Hadid Architects, said: “With this show we aim to present who we are close up, our depth of experience, our current preoccupations, and our aspirations for the future.”