The exhibition toured to various locations from 1997 to 1999, presenting the cultural impact of East Asia's rapid urban development in the late twentieth century through a mix of visual art, architecture, and film.
[3] According to Asia Art Archive, Cities on the Move was “a landmark event in contemporary exhibition-making for its extensive use of urbanism theories, its strong involvement of architects, and its attempt to recreate an ever-evolving city within an exhibition space”, which included a continuous programme of performances, screenings, and discussions during the exhibition period.
[1] The exhibition curators Hou Hanru and Hans Ulbrecht Obrist chose cities as a site to explore themes of modernisation such as consumerism, monumental architecture, traffic congestion, privacy and public space, and competitive urbanism.
[1] Over two years and across seven locations, the exhibition's curators and artists experimented with different strategies to respond to the unfolding sociocultural, economic, and political crises in Asia.
[5] More than 100 artists and architects from China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Europe took part.