The Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai has launched its second architectural biennial, "Shanghai Picnic," bringing a fresh perspective to public space design in one of China's most fast-paced cities. The festival, known as RAM assembles (RAMa), challenges the conventional use of urban spaces by introducing playful, community-oriented installations that encourage people to slow down and gather together.

The concept of picnicking might seem simple in cities like Melbourne or Sydney, where public green spaces and relaxed outdoor culture are commonplace. However, Shanghai presents unique challenges as a tightly controlled, highly surveilled metropolis with limited green space and a population constantly on the move. The city's residents are often atomized by their digital devices, eating while commuting in a culture of perpetual acceleration.

X Zhu-Nowell, who has served as director and head curator since 2023, operates the museum as a rare privately-owned, non-profit institution offering free public admission in China. Despite operating under state censorship, Zhu-Nowell maintains a pragmatic approach to the challenges. "We submit a cultural bureau application and then they look at all your work and tell you some things you can show, some things you cannot show, and we deal with it, with artists – collectively we make decisions on how we show here," they explain. Architecture, Zhu-Nowell notes, tends to face fewer censorship issues than other art forms.

The festival's theme was conceived by Bangkok-based all(zone) architects, the invited artistic directors known for their colorful textile installations, including the 2022 Melbourne MPavilion. Co-founder Rachaporn Choochuey articulates a philosophy that views Southeast Asia as "a living laboratory where strategies for a warming world are tested in real time." The practice brings a notably relaxed and joyful approach to architecture, contrasting with the often self-serious standards of the profession.

The centerpiece installation, "Under a Common Sky, Sheltered to Gather," consists of fabric canopies covering much of the art museum courtyard. The folded, draped, and stitched waffle design allows airflow while providing shade for platforms set at different heights, creating modular stages, benches, and tables. This light infrastructure successfully facilitated performances, programs, and actual picnics during the festival's opening days and nights, with locals embracing the space more enthusiastically than even the architects expected.

Four additional projects were selected through an international open call for Asia-based contributors. Alkhemist Architects presented "Ways to Roam," featuring mobile vendor carts for food and drink preparation that can be arranged together or separately, with characteristic roof forms that collectively create a stylized dragon silhouette. Tangent Essays contributed "In Search of a Loggia," a witty reference to Superstudio's Continuous Monument through a gridded blue platform. WWWorks' "Pipe UP!" transformed a drinking fountain into a light feature, providing essential public water access in Shanghai's intense heat.

The least successful installation was Studio Vapore's "A Gentle Reclaim," which featured living moss that felt more like sacrificial decoration than meaningful commentary on urban nature needs. The installations were complemented by an intensive two-week program of outdoor events in the museum's forecourt, a space with its own significant history.

The Rockbund Art Museum occupies part of a larger development comprising 11 historic buildings in what was once Shanghai's European concession, just north of the famous Bund. These architecturally fascinating structures blend early 1930s neoclassical, modernist, gothic, and art deco elements with Chinese motifs, serving as an index of soft power and Shanghai's role in European colonial ambitions during the interwar period.

David Chipperfield Architects undertook the ambitious architectural restoration of the entire Rockbund district, a project that required 18 years to complete the restoration, extension, and upgrade into a mixed-use cultural precinct. After carefully removing a century of additions and modifications, the firm created a central plaza by connecting narrow cross-site lanes and joining separate rear courtyards into one cohesive urban space.

While some critics might dismiss the festival's apparent simplicity, both Choochuey and Zhu-Nowell view the RAMa installations as prototypes for permanent adoption. The plaza, though beautiful, previously lacked essential amenities like shade and seating, causing pedestrians to simply walk through, take photos, and leave.

The proliferation of architecture festivals worldwide raises questions about their necessity and value. Critics often condemn these events as divorced from actual building practice, featuring arcane language and cacophonous exhibitions. However, biennials serve important functions in architectural culture, providing unique spaces for testing ideas, fostering global discussion, and advancing the art form.

RAMa distinguishes itself through its small scale, accessibility, pragmatism, and joyful approach, with the modest but specific goal of providing basic amenities for public gathering. While some may criticize its lack of intellectual complexity, such disciplinary pretension – the competitive pursuit of cleverness and the belief that architectural discourse must always be difficult – represents a problematic aspect of the field's hypercritical and patriarchal culture.

The festival's strength lies in its embrace of the ordinary, recognizing that everyday experiences form the foundation of human existence. Rather than pursuing novelty, RAMa celebrates the sacred, ritual quality inherent in common activities and the importance of how people spend their daily lives. This refreshing approach offers genuine insight precisely because it avoids the solipsistic tendencies that too often characterize architectural discourse.