2018 Inaugural Symposium
LOOKING TO NEW INSTITUTIONAL MODELS: CHINA’S CULTURAL LANDSCAPE BY MID CENTURY
June 8 – 10, 2018 | Hosting Institution Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai
In the inaugural symposium, we sought to critically examine the diverse museum practices in both official and private domains of the Greater China Region. Speakers investigated how institutional frameworks are fostered by the unique social and cultural dynamics at play. In doing so, we hoped to bring forth discussions to challenge the existing models through which China’s cultural development has been considered. By looking at the intersection of these various threads, we sought to reveal the unique audience experience that is emerging in China, offering a particular focus on the complex cultural and temporal dimensions of museum-going and its relationship to sociality and contemplation.
Our Call for Papers received over 35 submissions, from which the Museum 2050 Advisory Committee chose 12 successful abstracts, and were presented on Saturday, June 9 at the Long Museum. The symposium featured keynote addresses from Erlend Høyersten, Director of ARoS Museum, Aarhus and Philip Tinari, Director of Ullens Center for Contemporary Art. These keynote speeches hoped to offer a framework in which young academics could present their dynamic and varied research. The chosen paper submissions by Barclay Bram, Chao Yan, Robert B. Epp, Yuan Fang, Les Joynes, Nuo Lin, Alexandra van Riel, Daan Roggeveen, Holly Roussell, Ying Tian, Chen Wenjia, and Giulia Zennaro tackled a variety of issues from how China’s regulative institutions are shaping the development of private art museums, to the increasing role that technology is playing in these institutions, to conceptualizing the new kinds of museum models that may come as the result of innovation in the region.
Hailing from all over China, staff from Museum 2050’s participating institutions attended workshops on Sunday June 10 convened by Michael XuFu Huang, Co-Founder of Beijing’s M Woods Museum, S. Alice Mong, Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center, and Valerie Wang, Art Director of Zhi Art Museum, Chengdu and Erlend Høyersten. This series provided a platform for young museum professionals to come together to learn and share, in order to benefit from the experience of their peers as well as those with decades of experience. In this way, Museum 2050 hopes to help attendees better envision their own future in the arts and over the long term create a more vibrant and connected cultural landscape in China. We are grateful to participating institutions A4 Art Museum, Guangda Art Museum, Inside Out Museum, Long Museum, M Woods, Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai Himalayas Museum, TANK Shanghai, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Yuz Museum, and Zhi Art Museum for supporting us in our inaugural symposium and look forward to providing more networking and development opportunities in the future.
We kicked-off a full weekend of programming, with a screening of London-based artist Marysia Lewandowska’s Museum Futures: Distributed at 4pm on Friday June 8 at Qiao Space. This video work, commissioned by Moderna Museet for its 50th anniversary in 2008, is set in 2058 and stages the centenary interview of Moderna Museet executive director Ayan Lindquist. Museum Futures explores a possible genealogy for contemporary art practice and its institutions, by re-imagining the role of artists, museums, galleries, markets, and academies in the world dominated by a shrinking public sphere.
Program
Friday, June 8
16:00 | Marysia Lewandowska’s Screening and Discussion
Museum Futures: Distributed
Qiao Space 2555-5 Longteng Ave, Xuhui District, Shanghai
Saturday, June 9
09:30 | Attendee Registration
10:00 | Opening Remarks
Wang Wei, Director & Founder of Long Museum
10:15 | Keynote Address
Erlend Høyersten, Director of ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum
The Museum As A Mental Fitness Center
10:45 | Chao Yan
The Websites and Online Communities of Chinese Contemporary Art Museums in 2050: Digitalizing, Programming and Positioning
11:00 | Yuan Fang
Old Masters, New Frontiers
11:15 | Holly Roussell
Inside and Outside the Institution: Musealization of art and exhibitions in China
11:30 | Robert B. Epp
Collector Beware: Museum Development in China and the Problem of Counterfeit Cultural Relics
11:45 | Chen Wenjia
Art and Museums under the influence of Social Media
12:00 | Les Joynes
FormLAB: Artist-led Practices that Transform the Museum
12:30 | Open Floor for Questions
One Hour Lunch Break
14.30 | Keynote Address
Philip Tinari, Director of Ullens Center of Contemporary Art
Museums 2.0: The Case of UCCA
15:00 | Ying Tian
Reconsidering the creative city concept in the Asia context: From creative city to creative district
15:15 | Barclay Bram
The Museum as Sacred Space: The Jianchuan Museum Cluster and the future of the Chinese Museum
15:30 | Nuo Lin
Art in the Urban Regeneration: Private Art Museum of Real Estate Development in China
15:45 | Daan Roggeveen
The Art Mall: The Department Store Turned Inside Out
16:00 | Alexandra van Riel
The Chinese Museum of the Future: Learning from the Guggenheim’s Responses to International Interest and the Changing Exhibitionary Landscape
16:15 | Giulia Zennaro
What’s in a Name? How China’s Regulative Institutions are Shaping Private Art Museums: Insights from the Shanghai West Bund Cultural Corridor
16:30 | Open Floor for Questions
Sunday, June 10
Workshop attendance is exclusively offered to staff members of Museum 2050 Participating Institutions
10:00 | Workshop Morning Session
12:30 Michael Xufu Huang, Collector and Museum Founder, M Woods
Erlend Høyersten, Director of ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum
15:00 | Break
14:00 | Workshop Afternoon Session
16:00 S. Alice Mong, Executive Director of Asia Society Hong Kong Center
Valerie Wang, Artistic Director of Zhi Art Museum
Participating Institutions
A4 Art Museum
Guangda Art Museum
Inside Out Museum
Long Museum
M Woods
Rockbund Art Museum
Shanghai Himalayas Museum
TANK Shanghai
Ullens Center for Contemporary Art
Yuz Museum
Zhi Art Museum