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

Registration Info