Lorenz Helbling arrived in Shanghai in 1995 where he found a frantic and raving metropolis. The city began its miraculous resurrection in 1992, and the decade that followed was an exhilarating ride of limitless urban and economical expansion. Overnight, skyscrapers sprang up, highways and entirely new districts were constructed, and the whole city resembled one big construction site in constant development. Coming from Zurich, Helbling encountered a city that was rich in cultural history, alive with an extraordinary entrepreneurial and intellectual energy, and home to more than fifteen million inhabitants. Helbling, who had been in China many times before and in fact studied Chinese history and cinema in Shanghai before graduating in Switzerland in art history and Chinese, quickly recognized that the city was virtually devoid of places to display the huge numbers of ground-breaking artists emerging there.

Fascinated by the artistic intensity and the tremendous amount of creative energy, he knew that he had to change the situation and started to organize smaller exhibitions in apartments and restaurants. After doing this for a year, it became clear that it was essential to find a more permanent site that would offer the artists the possibility to present their works in a more constant and professional environment.

When the gallery opened in 1996, it was one of merely a few commercial spaces in the whole country. Even in the open-minded and adventurous climate of Shanghai during the mid-1990s, the new gallery owner was confronted with strong skepticism. No one believed it would be possible to find collectors and establish a profitable market for contemporary art from China. In addition, most artists seemed interested in showing their works abroad rather than in their home country, as they felt isolated after years of political pressure and public apathy and in fact mostly wanted to leave China. Many prospective collectors were still interested in the more mundane benefits of the economic upswing, such as big apartments, designer clothes and European cars. At that point, Chinese art had attracted only limited attention in the global art world and was merely looked at as a curiosity.

Helbling did not pay much attention to these reservations and went ahead. Having no doubts that it was possible to set up a professional and economically functioning gallery in Shanghai, he knew that it was an ideal moment to understand the transformation of the country and be an active part of it. It was clear that the 1990's were the beginning of a new era for China, and especially Shanghai, which once again became its business capital. What would soon become the first reference in regard to art from China for collectors, curators and artists started in a small and unpretentious space in the Portman Shangri-La Hotel in the center of the city. Fortunately, Helbling did not need to pay rent for his first gallery, as the hotel management, art lovers themselves, offered him the space free of charge. The first shows were very well received, and Helbling began to gain recognition for his efforts.

Nevertheless, the hotel space was only a temporary arrangement, and only two years after the first opening Helbling began to look for another site. In 1999, the gallery moved to its current address in Fuxing Park, into a renovated garage that was turned into a 1,100 square foot exhibition space. Open seven days a week, the gallery is home to an immense archive of documentation on Chinese art, which is available to the public. It quickly established itself as one of the focal points of China's art world. In 2000, the gallery expanded once more, taking over a large, old warehouse space at Suzhou Creek (which was demolished in 2001), and moved, a little later, into loft spaces in an old textile factory on Moganshan Road to host its expanding collection of large-scale sculptural projects.

The artists currently showing at ShanghART range in age. Several were born in the 1940's and experienced the dramatic ups and downs of the Mao Era, while others were born in the 1970's and lived in Deng's fast-developing New China. However, most of the gallery's prominent artists were born in the 1960’s and bridge the gap between the older and younger generation. Many of the gallery's artists have become household names in the international art world. Today, ShanghART works with, exhibits, promotes and supports over thirty of China's most active artists. The last three Venice Biennales, as well as documenta X, gave a prominent role to Chinese artists, many of whom are showing their work at Helbling's gallery, including Yang Fudong, Xu Zhen, Feng Mengbo and Yang Zhenzhong.

Jens Hoffmann in International Art Galleries: Post-War to Post-Millenium, Uta Grosenick Raimar Stange, Eds. (Dumont:  2005).