New York and Amsterdam-based artist Carlos Irijalba drilled 105 meters underground in Shanghai, and presented the earth and rocks that he dug up in an artwork named Amphibian. While soil excavated from areas near the ocean are wet and soft, the more inland excavations are rocky and dry.

The Shanghai metropolitan area is based on the Yangtze River Delta, "an ever-changing, evolving territory, liquid in some sense", says the artist.

By presenting the ecological strata of Shanghai, the artwork "brings to surface the millennia of natural history and how perpetual these transformations are," Irijalba says in a written introduction of his work.

A few historical objects loaned from other museums in the city are among the exhibits of contemporary art, reflecting the close connection between Shanghai and its waterways.