Recently, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in an important speech at the opening ceremony of the Eleventh National Congress of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Tenth National Congress of the China Writers Association that literary and art workers should "tell the Chinese story well with affection and strength, and show the world a credible, lovely and respectable image of China." As an important part of the public cultural service system, as a collection of academic research, exhibition display, display and publicity and other professional services in one of the cultural places, in recent years, the art museum in the new historical period and era environment has more clearly defined its own positioning, art museums around the world continue to break through their own limitations, expand the scope of influence, the content of beauty to all sectors of society. In 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic has also become a catalyst for the museum to continuously self-examine, self-renew and improve itself.
Policy Guidance The new museum is open
Build a new pattern of art museum business
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has always attached great importance to the professional construction of art museums, and has promoted the healthy development of national art museums with the strong support of policy guarantees and professional guidance by holding a series of project activities such as the selection of excellent projects of national art museums, the exhibition season of fine art collections of national art museums, the national art works collection and donation reward project, and the national art museum young curator support program. In August this year, the "2021 National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season Activity Catalog" and the "2021 National Art Museum Young Curator Support Program Selected Project List" were released. On December 22, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a notice on the selection of outstanding projects of national art museums in 2020-2021, and related work will also be carried out.
In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism held an exhibition of fine art works at the National Art Museum of China to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. The exhibition brings together a number of fine collections from the National Art Museum of China and art museums around the world, including many classic masterpieces. In addition, a number of outstanding realistic art works that reflect the major achievements, major events and heroic model figures launched by the national thematic art creation since the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China were also concentrated on the exhibition.
At the major node of celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Party, art museums across the country have planned and launched theme exhibitions celebrating the centenary of the founding of the Party, as well as related red exhibitions, making "red" one of the main colors of art museums. For example, many art museums such as the National Museum of China, the National Art Museum of China, the China Art Palace, the Guangdong Art Museum, and the Zhejiang Art Museum have launched a number of theme exhibitions in conjunction with the Academy of Fine Arts, the Academy of Painting and other innovative research institutions. Among them, "Wood and Stone Spirit - Lai Shaoqi Art Document exhibition" of the China Art Palace, "Sunrise Oriental - Shanghai Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" "Exhibition of Fine Arts Works Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" and "Exhibition of So Many Jiaojiao Museums in Jiangshan", "Witness of a Hundred Years - Liu Haisu and shanghai Art College Education Reform Research Exhibition" of Liu Haisu Art Museum, "Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China Series Exhibition" of Cheng Shifa Art Museum, "Rescue of Cultural Celebrities - Collection of Ding Cong's "100 Days of Miscellaneous Memories of Dongjiang" in Shenzhen Art Museum Collection Ding Cong's "100 Days of Miscellaneous Memories of Dongjiang" Group Paintings and Special Art Works Exhibition" and Zhejiang Art Museum's "Daughter of the Red Boat - Special Art Exhibition for the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" are all unique planning concepts, actively practicing the theme education spirit of "not forgetting the original heart and keeping the mission in mind", encouraging and inspiring the people to further be positive and energetic in the new historical period.
At present, art museums have become an indispensable cultural facility in every city, and their professionalism and popularity have become important indicators to measure the level of cultural development of a city and even a country. This year, a number of new art museums in China have opened, which has opened up new territory and injected new strength into the territory of art museums. Such as Shanghai Pudong Art Museum, Sichuan Chengdu Art Museum New Museum, Shandong Qingdao Xihai Art Museum, Tianjin Haihe Art Museum, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, etc. It is worth mentioning that many art museums attach great importance to the beauty of the building itself, and once completed, they will become local cultural landmarks.
▲ Exterior view of Pudong Art Museum in Shanghai
From a distance, the Pudong Art Museum's "three-dimensional square box" composed of white stone and glass is quietly integrated into the vast land of Lujiazui, leading to important landmarks such as the Oriental Pearl and the Shanghai International Convention and Exhibition Center and the Riverside Trail. From far and near, people slowly realized that this "white square on a white background" is like an urban sculpture standing proudly on the banks of the Huangpu River, so that the public can accept the dual baptism of art and architecture. Xihai Art Museum is built next to the sea, and its architectural curtain wall uses glass and anodized aluminum plates to reflect the light and shadow of the sea surface, and the overall curved and continuous shape is surrounded by green plants as if it is a link with a unique coastal cultural temperament, leading to the direction of the city. The new chengdu art museum is divided into hall A and hall B, the two halls are across the lake, of which hall A is also called Tianfu Art Museum, the architectural shape looks like a huge petal slowly unfolding, and the pavilion stands on the lake. Hall B, also known as the Museum of Contemporary Art, is inspired by Du Fu's famous phrase "The window contains the snow of Xiling"--the roof is designed as a mountain with two wings slowly falling, and is paved with tens of thousands of square meters of lawn, from which you can see the snowy mountains in the distance when the weather is good. The building itself also cleverly obscures the third ring road behind it, forming an independent and complete view of the park. Once these art galleries were built, they became internet celebrity punch cards.
▲ Exterior view of Tianfu Art Museum in Chengdu
▲ Exterior view of the new chengdu art museum
Technology-based immersive
The digitalization of the art museum is in full swing
The covid-19 pandemic continues to affect the development of art museums, and restricting the flow of reservations has become one of the measures that museums have to do. In the face of this situation, online online has become the preferred way for museums and art galleries to maintain contact with audiences, and this year, online projects such as online exhibitions, online education, dialogue curators, and social media interaction have emerged in an endless stream. To be sure, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way museums view the digital world, highlighting existing problems and accelerating the digital transformation that has already begun.
In the process of trying digitization, the more common way is online exhibition - the use of new technologies such as VR to move the exhibition space of art museums to the Internet; many art museums have begun to try to use collection resources to serve the community, and jointly launch digital education resources with communities or schools; some art museums use social media platforms such as Douyin, Kuaishou, and Station B to promote their collections and exhibitions to maintain contact with the audience... Among them, some projects are "out of the circle" because of their creativity, which are loved and discussed by audiences at home and abroad. For example, the National Art Museum of China has continuously launched online digital exhibitions, cloud exhibitions, and cloud classrooms, and in October 2021, the National Art Museum of China officially entered Station B, which has also aroused attention.
Statistics show that the vast majority of museums and art galleries display only one-tenth of the collection, and a large number of collections cannot be seen with the public for a long time for various reasons. It is foreseeable that if museums and art galleries can cooperate with professional Internet teams to formulate a clearer and more detailed digital strategy, "museums and art galleries without walls" will not only allow more cultural heritage, modern and contemporary art and the stories behind them to approach the public, but also reshape the world's museums and art galleries.
It is worth mentioning that the novel, participatory and interactive immersive art experience is becoming a new form of high-profile attention, widely used in commercial plazas, art spaces, hotels and other scenes. Many art museums also use new scientific and technological means to make the exhibition present an aesthetic form that is more catering to the audience. For example, during the summer vacation, the "One World" Children's Immersive Interactive Technology Exhibition of Today Art Museum in Beijing became a popular punch card for parents and children. Zhejiang Art Museum's "Star Rushing Tide - Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" uses technology to plan immersive exhibition halls, making the exhibition quite attractive.
Zhang Zikang, director of the CAFA Art Museum, said that in the future, digital art museums will surpass the development of physical art museums, which is an inevitable trend. "Just like there are fewer and fewer people buying print books now, but the traditional form of paper books will not be dissolved." Similarly, don't think that today's digital art galleries will dissolve the classics of the past. It will not dissolve, but there will be a new form of art museum, using new ways to meet the challenge. Zhang Zikang said. Ying Jinfei, director of Zhejiang Art Museum, also believes that the exhibition of today's art museum should be a multi-dimensional, multi-dimensional and three-dimensional exhibition. "Times are different, and the age levels of the public attracted by art museums should also be diverse. As a comprehensive art museum, the exhibition must be good-looking and have more means, but this is only a formal requirement, not that there are many formal dimensions in the presentation, it must be a good exhibition. We must adhere to the artistry of our works and exhibitions. Ying Jinfei said.
Cross-border integration, co-construction and sharing
Expand the new space for the development of the art museum
If the integration with science and technology makes art have a broader world and makes the exhibition form of the art museum richer, then the cross-border combination with other art disciplines and the co-construction and sharing with other institutions have given the art museum a broader space for development, and also gave the art museum people new thinking: As an art space, can the art museum still provide more cultural nourishment content?
In order to reach more audiences, the museum breaks through its own limitations in various ways and attracts the participation of the audience in a more diversified way. In the "Emotions - The 7th Jianghan Star Project and Young Artists Research Exhibition", The Wuhan Art Museum curated activities such as "Low Temperature Incineration & Free Dance" and "Body as a Container", which attracted many audiences to watch and participate. In May, wuhan art museum also joined hands with Union Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology to successfully hold a public event called "Healing Art" in the atrium of Wuhan Art Museum, trying to bring more warmth and healing power to patients through art healing. On the occasion of the centenary of the Party, the China Art Palace (Shanghai Art Museum) also made a successful cross-border attempt. Jointly organized by the China Art Palace, the Shanghai Dramatists Association and the Shanghai Light Music Troupe, the "Night of the China Art Palace: Magnificent Poems and Songs Flying - Celebrating the Centenary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" was full of performances, the atmosphere was warm, and the wonderful program was praised by the enthusiastic audience.
What can an art museum do in addition to showing and transmitting beauty to people? The museum people continue to think about this problem, and have made many attempts to expand their social functions and bring people comfort to their hearts. For example, the Wuhan Art Museum's Ministry of Culture and Tourism's 2020 National Art Museum Young Curator Support Program was selected as the project "Beyond Words - Art and Healing", which introduces the audience into the subject field of art healing, and provides the audience with a variety of possible emotional outlets in combination with public education activities. The "Healing Art" theme exhibition launched by Liu Haisu Art Museum in Shanghai takes "Emotional Map: Shared Healing Art Workshop", "Story Shop" and "Bean Workshop" as the starting point, trying to enter everyone's inner world through art. Xi'an Art Museum has been exploring the multiple feasibility of art education for children with autism, creating a safe harbor for "children of the stars". The museum's three-year public education activity, "Breaking through the Barriers, Star World", is a public education (experimental art) research project that uses art activities as a communication medium, with equal and respectful empathy as a link, to realize the positive role of "expressive art therapy" in the process of rehabilitation of autistic groups.
In order to promote campus aesthetic education with social aesthetic education, some art museums have also implemented the "going out" strategy and jointly built aesthetic education bases with colleges and universities. For example, zhejiang art museum and Hangzhou Basic Education Research Office jointly launched the "100 Schools and 100 Teachers" art teacher support program. At the launching ceremony, the two sides signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly help establish a high-level aesthetic education resource phalanx and build a public cultural talent platform. The National Art Museum of China, Shijia Education Group, Beihang University and other educational institutions in Beijing have jointly built aesthetic education bases in order to make useful attempts in aesthetic education, hoping to carry out comprehensive cooperation in talent training, cultural and artistic dissemination, etc., to achieve complementary advantages, mutual benefit and win-win results, and collide with more sparks of beauty.
A few days ago, the 2021 Chengdu Biennale "Unconsidered Thinking: Art Museum Director Summit" was held in Area A of Chengdu Art Museum (Chengdu Tianfu Art Museum). The heads of nearly 30 art museums and art institutions provided a cultural activity for professional institutions and audiences engaged in and loved contemporary art exhibitions and works around the world in the dual mode of online and offline, exploring the importance and relevance of collection and research, exhibition and audience, and how art museums can promote the healthy development of cultural and artistic ecology, undertaking the mission of knowledge production, aesthetic cultivation and cultural inheritance, and building a dialogue platform for enhancing mutual understanding between different civilizations in the world. What exactly can the museum bring to the audience? Reflecting on the present and looking forward to the future, let us look forward to the new situation in the art museum industry.
▲ Wisdom to weihu mountain (shadow puppet) China Academy of Art Museum collection
▲ The exhibition site of "A Hundred Years of Imprints: Exhibition of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Classic Printmaking Works collected by the Heilongjiang Provincial Art Museum"
▲ "Super Integration" 2021 Chengdu Biennale Exhibition Site
▲ "Sunrise in the East - Shanghai Municipal Exhibition of Fine Arts Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" exhibition hall
▲ "Then, at this time - 2020 CAFA Online Graduation Season" virtual exhibition hall
Source: China Culture Daily