China's museum building boom has long been dominated and directed by government cultural commissars who aim to highlight the bonds stretching back more than 3,000 years between state power and
Chinese culture.
But while these cadres construct ever-bigger palaces to showcase art of the revolution - or of the imperial system that it replaced - a new contingent of private philanthropists has begun setting up independent outposts to highlight avant-garde artists across China and around the world.
Although private art spaces currently account for less than one-sixth of China's 3,000-plus museums, curators at these centres, along with their foreign counterparts, are predicting they will rapidly promote the flow of art and artists across the continents.
"I think many of these private museums and galleries will become great new channels for cultural exchanges between East and West," said David Elliott, cultural attaché at the British Embassy in Beijing.
Elliott said he recently passed up all of the government-run mega-museums in Shanghai when selecting a venue to stage an exhibition in the city of works by Tony Cragg, one of Europe's leading contemporary sculptors. Instead, he opted to stage the show at the independent new Himalayas Art Museum.
Although private art spaces currently account for less than one-sixth of China's 3,000-plus museums, curators at these centres, along with their foreign counterparts, are predicting they will rapidly promote the flow of art and artists across the continents.
"I think many of these private museums and galleries will become great new channels for cultural exchanges between East and West," said David Elliott, cultural attaché at the British Embassy in Beijing.
Elliott said he recently passed up all of the government-run mega-museums in Shanghai when selecting a venue to stage an exhibition in the city of works by Tony Cragg, one of Europe's leading contemporary sculptors. Instead, he opted to stage the show at the independent new Himalayas Art Museum.
No comments:
Post a Comment