Inside a shoebox room, supposedly a clothing store, a row of empty clothes hangers are visible. There is a dressing room, but it doesn't matter, as there is no one there to try anything on, and this store has nothing on sale. Instead, you can hear recordings of people talking about their clothing.

This is CHAN store, an installation art project by Beijing-based CHAN studio, participating in this year's Get It Louder exhibition.

CHAN is among 130 or so artists from both China and abroad demonstrating their creative works at the annual avant-garde art exhibition, which opened in Shanghai on Saturday.

Artworks on show include installations, fashion designs, videos, sound art and more.

The artists just wrapped up a tour of the southern city of Guangzhou, and will hit Beijing on August 16 before traveling onto the southwestern city of Chengdu on September 13.

But long before the exhibition kicked off, a series of small-scale gatherings have been held in several Chinese cities since March, where participating artists demonstrated their artistic ideas to a small group of onlookers selected from online submissions.

Homeshow, as the gathering is called, is a new feature of this year's Get It Louder exhibition. Usually being held at an artist's home or studio, each Homeshow tries to prove that people don't have to "wait for an art biennale to experience art," the exhibition's website claims.

Since its inauguration in 2005, Get It Louder has been promoting "creative life" and "art in life," offering spectators a glimpse of contemporary art, mainly by young Chinese artists.

For more information about the Get It Louder exhibition, go to its website: www.getitlouder.com

The concept CHAN store at the Get It Louder 2007 Guangzhou Stop.

(CRI.com July 23, 2007)