Press release
In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the city of Shanghai had radically contrasting reputations. On one hand, it was notorious for the decadence characterized by its dark alleyways and network of opium dens along with other vices and pleasures which fuelled its underground economy. It was, at the same time, world-renowned for the glamour and modernity of the Bund, its most famous street. There, European and American expatriates commissioned distinctive Western architectural wonders which, for more than 100 years, have been Shanghai's most enduring landmark.
One of these is the South Building of Shanghai's historic Peace Hotel, the subject of an exhibition opening at the Cité du Temps on 8 July 2009. The hotel, built in 1908, will re-open in the spring of 2010 as the Swatch Art Peace Hotel.
In its long history, the Peace Hotel (originally built as the Palace Hotel) has hosted some unique events including the International Opium Conference in 1909 (designed to stop the spread of the drug, not to encourage it) and the wedding engagement party for Chiang Kai-shek and his fiancée, Soong May-ling. Soong's brother-in-law, Sun Yat-sen, the first president of the Republic of China, was also an early guest.
The Swatch Art Peace Hotel is being restored according to a unique concept: it will combine retail space with a hotel where only invited artists from around the world, including China, live and work. The artists will be accommodated by the Swatch Group in living areas with integrated studios.
The Group asks only that the artists select some of the art they create in Shanghai and leave it at the Swatch Art Peace Hotel where it will become part of a permanent collection which will, periodically, be presented to the public.
The exhibition at the Cité du Temps features historic and contemporary photographs of the hotel and of Shanghai's famous Bund, a scale model of the project, and illustrations of the hotel's design concepts and texts about the unusual project.
Opening hours of the exhibition “The Swatch Art Peace Hotel in Shanghai” are from 9 am to 6 pm every day and admission is free.
Cité du Temps
Pont de la Machine
1204 Genève
