Creek Art Center in Shanghai is a creative home for contemporary art. Perched on the banks of Suzhou Creek and housed in a seven-story factory building of the late Qing dynasty - the Rong family’s well known former flour factory. Simon Yuen and Lise Kolstad Yuen founded the Creek Art Center in 2005.

With a total of 2,000 square metres, the Creek Art Center houses Creek Art (2/F-4/F) and Creek Kitchen (5/F-6/F)

Located in the central down town, but a short distance from the hustle and bustle of the city. You will find the Creek art center as a hidden treasure in a small back alley on the riverbank. Spacious, yet intimate rooms filled with a new and interesting agenda, gives the old flour factory a rebirth as an exciting culture house.

Since it’s opening, Creek Art has explored a diverse range of activities in its program. The art center has mounted strong solo exhibitions, mixed media shows and culture exchange events, and has in addition staged modern dance performances and music concerts.

In our creative home, the arts join forces with the Italian based cuisine of Creek Kitchen. Inspired by the past, Creek art center is at the forefront of Shanghai’s future as an unpretentious meeting place for artists and art lovers.

In 2006, Creek art center also opened a small art space at Factory 798, Dashanzi art district in Beijing.

Converted warehouses by the Suzhou creek
The river is the foundation of a city; it is the key to its development, the vein of its life.
The Suzhou Creek is the maternal river of Shanghai. She may not be glamorously dressed, but as she meandors between the docks with the myriads of cargos and freighters, she is the city’s mother-figure with an unfading beauty. On the banks of Pujiang, we find one of the most breathtaking views of Shanghai; but the rows of old buildings along the river have now become part of the gradually disappearing scenery of this city.

Old warehouses, abandoned factory buildings, row upon row of slum, scurrying rats, garbage trucks lined up in the dark of the night, people hurrying through the narrow, rubbish-lined ‘longtangs’ – the true colors of the city and its lifestyle are fully exposed.

People used to the hustle and bustle of city living has yet to cast their eyes on this unadorned, ‘primitive’ patch; the world of refined art and high living seem to be on a straight parallel line which never comes into contact with this part of town. Yet changes are taking place. Slowly and unawares, the breezes of the modern era are infiltrating the salty air on the banks of the creek, and small groups of people are starting to reinterpret this ancient history in their individual ways.

Lined with factories that fuelled Shanghai’s growth, the banks of Suzhou Creek were once the heart of the city’s industries. The dock area with its substantial warehouse stock was also the local financial center of the era. As Shanghai enters the new age of technology and the factories gradually fall into disuse, the area around Shanghai’s mother creek has to redefine its functions. Like the search for cultural zones in other metropolises, Shanghai is developing the banks of Suzhou Creek into the city’s cultural oasis.

423 Guangfu Road, with its red bricks and high ceilings, is the location of The Creek Art Center. The architecture was build in 1902 as a part of the Fu Xin Flour Factory by two brothers of the famous Rong family, one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in China. It was the largest flour factory in China and the tallest building in Shanghai at that time. It later became a textile factory before being converted into the present culture house.

The location of the Creek Art Center represents an exceptional opportunity to build on its history a new breeding ground for creativity and innovation. As the first cultural post of its kind in the Zhabei area, the Creek art Center is endowed with the rich historical presence of its old grassroots neighborhood, as well as its proximity to the hubbub of central Shanghai.
Our building is easily visible as you pass the creek from the Chengdu Lu highway or on the Wuzhen Lu Bridge – but once you enter the alleyways around us, it is easy to be lost on your hunt for this treasure shrouded in the labyrinth.

To stroll along the back alleys on the riverbank, to experience a touch of authentic Shanghai in these unpretentious and charming quarters, is almost like traveling in time. We always say: you can go to the bund and admire the glitters of Shanghai, or you can come to the Sushi Creek and feel the city’s heartbeat.

In our creative home, the arts join forces with the Italian based cuisine of Creek Kitchen. Our restaurant is a perfect meeting place for casual lunches, dinners or evening drinks, as well as nice venue for celebrations of different range of company functions and private parties.

Creek Art - Homage to the Arts
Shanghai and Beijing have always been China’s most international cities; it is the essential nature of these metropolises to seek inspiration from all parts of the world. The philosophy of the Creek Art is embodied in its convergence of the multi-facets of contemporary culture. Creek Art organizes exhibitions and projects that underline the importance of artistic expression and intercultural exchange, and materializes the voices that represent contemporary thoughts and ideas in China and other parts of the world. We aim to support young artists by organizing exhibition, art events and in building a communication platform.

Since its opening Jan. 05 in Shanghai, Creek Art has explored a diverse range of activities in its program, in which all together have given us critical acclaims as an interesting culture house. In mars 2006, the Creek Art also opened a small art space at Factory 798, Dashanzi Art district in Beijing. The purpose to open a small division of Creek Art in Beijing is first of all to be represented at 798, to extend the chances for co-operations and to give the artists an opportunity to show their work for the audience in the two main cities of China.

Creek art welcomes international artists and art organizations for co-operations and exchanges.

Opening hours:
Wed - Sun 11am - 7pm