Cartier at Shanghai Museum East — Cartier: The Power of Magic (2024)

Shanghai Museum East hosted a Cartier exhibition pairing nearly 300 archival pieces with more than 30 Chinese artifacts.

The venue

Shanghai Museum East is the Pudong branch of the Shanghai Museum, a purpose-built museum building in the city's eastern district. It contains large temporary exhibition galleries alongside permanent collection spaces, with controlled lighting and broad circulation areas suited to object display. The building's scale and museum infrastructure allow loan-heavy exhibitions to be staged in dedicated rooms, separate from the permanent collection.

How the space was used

For this exhibition, the museum's temporary galleries placed nearly 300 Cartier pieces in dialogue with more than 30 Chinese artifacts. Cai Guoqiang's team designed the exhibition, and moving-image works by WB wove Ni Zan-style landscapes and Jiangnan garden motifs through the galleries, setting jewellery and objects against shifting light and projection. Circulation moves visitors from one display cluster to the next, with projections bridging cases and open viewing areas.

Why it works here

A museum with dedicated temporary galleries can accommodate loan-heavy jewellery exhibitions that require security, climate control and timed entry. The East branch's scale separates this ticketed show from the permanent collection, while its Pudong location draws both museum visitors and brand audiences.