A few days ago, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Announcing the List of Excellent Projects for the 2021 National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season, and selected a total of 10 outstanding projects in 2021. So far, the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season has been successfully held for 10 years. In the past 10 years, more than 100 art museums have participated, launched nearly 300 fine exhibition projects in the collection of art museums, exhibited more than 30,000 fine works of collections, and the total number of audiences has exceeded 10 million offline, which has produced a good brand effect in the national art museum industry and even the whole society. In the past 10 years, driven by the exhibition season project, art museums around the world have continuously expanded the research, display and dissemination of their collections. So, what are the highlights of these excellent projects that are worth learning from? In today's era of great changes, how should art museums better activate their collections, serve the people and serve the society with their collections?
Develop and improve in the midst of change
After the reform and opening up, especially since the beginning of the new century, the mainland art museum undertaking has entered the fast lane of development -- one art museum after another has risen from the ground, hardware and software have been significantly improved, governments at all levels have generally attached importance to it, and all sectors of society have participated. Especially with the implementation of the policy of free opening of art museums in 2011, the art museum has become an important platform in the public cultural service system. However, it is undeniable that the overall development of mainland art museums is still in its infancy - the strength of provincial and municipal museums and grass-roots museums is very different; affected by economic and other factors, the geographical distribution of art museums is uneven; the lack of professional talents, management and service effects are restricted, especially in terms of collection resources, academic research, public services and other aspects. In the face of such a situation, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, as the competent department of the art museum industry, has carried out a series of work around strengthening the professional construction of art museums, and is committed to promoting the sustained and healthy development of the mainland art museum.
The National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season came into being in this context. As an annual project, it encourages national art galleries to hold annual exhibitions of their collections. On the basis of comprehensively considering the functional positioning of the art museum and the development status of the mainland art museum, starting from the research and display of the art museum's collections, publicity and promotion, through the way of project support, we guide and promote the art museum to strengthen the research and utilization of the collection, and gradually realize the long-term display of the art museum's collections, and finally achieve the transformation from "art exhibition hall" to "art museum". In order to cultivate the brand, enhance the continuous influence of the exhibition season activities, and make the collection research display of various art museums a "habit", the exhibition season activities always adhere to the standardized work procedures. There is no shortage of documents, declarations, selections, announcements, implementations, acceptances, etc., but while keeping the basic framework unchanged, the content is constantly changing and updating.
By summarizing the experience of the event and adapting to the development and changes of the art museum industry, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has continuously adjusted and improved the implementation plan of the exhibition season. To a certain extent, this is also a reflection of the new changes in the field of art museums. For example, since 2013, the requirement for exhibition time has been increased from 20 days to 30 days; from 2015, private art museums have been included in the scope of exhibition season declaration; since 2016, the touring exhibitions of excellent projects in previous years have been included in the scope of support, and the number of declarations in various places has been gradually not limited; in 2017, the long-term exhibitions will be listed separately to show the support attitude for the fixed exhibition of the art museum; from 2019, the art museum will be encouraged to innovate the exhibition method and expand the online display platform; from 2020, Encourage a number of art museums to cooperate, integrate collection resources to hold exhibitions, encourage the holding of long-term exhibitions, and require selected projects to hold online exhibitions; in 2021, encourage joint planning, and require the shortlisted projects to mark the exhibition season of "a certain year of national art museum collection boutique exhibition season shortlisted projects", forming a social effect of centralized display. It can be seen that with the advancement of the activities year by year, the activity measures are also being improved year by year, the direction is clearer, the content is more specific, the standards are more stringent, and the standards are gradually improved, the scope is expanded, and the content is enriched, so as to continuously promote the realization of the goal of professional construction of the art museum.
From fighting alone to working together for a win-win situation
The launch of the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season is to benefit the people through research and display of the collections of the art museums hidden in the deep boudoir. Therefore, some "old halls" and "large pavilions" with more collections have natural advantages at the beginning of the implementation of the project. National key art museums such as the National Art Museum of China, the Guangdong Museum of Art, and the China Art Palace are easy to be shortlisted and awarded excellent projects. However, the large collection also tests the curatorial ability of these museums to a certain extent. As Shang Hui, editor-in-chief of Fine Arts Magazine, who has participated in the review of the exhibition season for many times, said: "In fact, in the exhibition season, the most difficult to plan the exhibition is some large pavilions, because they must involve the study and exhibition of a piece of history or an academic-related proposition, and how to make 'thickness' is a very test of skill." For example, the National Art Museum of China's 2021 excellent project "Advancing in the Rapids - The Yellow River Theme Fine Art Exhibition of the National Art Museum of China" sorted out more than 130 works showing the Yellow River culture from the collection of works, presenting the audience with the wonderful story of a big river and a nation. In order to better interpret the theme of the exhibition, the exhibition is ingenious in the space design, introducing the concept of the Yellow River channel, so that the audience can wander on both sides of the Yellow River and watch the changes in the history and culture of the Yellow River.
Although the collection is not as rich as that of the large museum, some local art museums and famous artists' memorial halls are also famous through in-depth research on their own collections, accurate positioning, and unique intentions, such as Pan Tianshou Memorial Hall and Pang Xuanxuan Art Museum, which use limited collections for in-depth research and planning, and have continuously won excellent exhibition projects.
▲ Jiangmen Art Museum's "The Age of Blowout - Chinese Overseas Chinese (Jiangmen) 1869-2019 Overseas Chinese Art History Documentary Exhibition" exhibition site
In order to make up for the shortcomings of the collection, the event encouraged various art museums to jointly hold collection exhibitions, which also achieved good results. For example, Guan Shanyue Art Museum won the excellent exhibition project "Exhibition Volume Map New - Special Exhibition of the Times in the Long Scroll of Chinese Painting in the 1950s", which is also based on Guan Shanyue's "Leaping Map of Mountain Villages" collected by the museum, Li Xiongcai's "Wuhan Flood Prevention Map" collected by the National Art Museum of China, and "Capital Spring" collectively created by the Beijing Academy of Painting as the main body, constructing a special historical period of social and artistic research history. The Jiangmen Art Museum, which won the 2021 excellent exhibition project, "The Era of Blowout - Chinese Overseas Chinese Capital (Jiangmen) 1869-2019 Overseas Chinese Art History Documentary Exhibition" also relies on the curatorial power of the Guangdong Museum of Art, as well as the collection support of Guangzhou Museum of Art, Guangdong Academy of Fine Arts Art Museum, Jiangmen Museum, Kaiping Art Museum, Xinhui Art Museum and other institutions. Curator Wang Changhuai introduced: "This is also a new attempt at the exhibition planning of the city's art museum, focusing on the overall situation of the development of the city's fine arts industry in the past 150 years, the historical achievements and their practical significance. "It can also be seen from the efforts made by various museums to revitalize and utilize their collections.
Promote the all-round development of the art museum
▲ The scene of the Public Education Activity of the Guangdong Museum of Art's "Entertaining Things: Guan Liang's Style History Research"
Whether it is the national key art museum, the provincial large museum, or the grass-roots art museum belonging to the city, county and street, or the university art museum, the art museum of the academy of painting, the famous artist memorial hall, etc., the types of participation are becoming more and more extensive, the content is becoming more and more in-depth, and the exhibitions presented also have their own characteristics. From the perspective of 10 years of development, the implementation of the exhibition season project has promoted the further development of art museums in mainland China in the research and utilization of collections. On the one hand, the art museum has taken the exhibition season as an opportunity to realize the overall planning, focusing on the systematic sorting of the collection and academic resources of the museum, and has accumulated rich academic achievements, such as Pang Xuanxuan Art Museum, Liu Haisu Art Museum, Lai Shaoqi Art Museum, etc. On the other hand, the art museum is also based on its own collection resources, deeply excavating and combing local art resources, and has a certain role in promoting the development of regional art, such as Wuhan Art Museum and Shenzhen Art Museum. In addition, the case studies and special studies of some art museums are also very eye-catching, such as the Art Museum of Beijing Academy of Painting, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, He Xiangning Art Museum, etc. In particular, 13 key art museums, such as the National Art Museum of China, the Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum, and the Guangdong Museum of Art, carefully plan and launch collection exhibitions every year. A series of collection, research, catholicism, promotion and other activities held along with these exhibitions have driven the development of the art museum in an all-round way.
Since its establishment, Chongqing Art Museum has always actively participated in various art projects of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and has been shortlisted for 5 national art museum collection exhibition season projects and 3 times for outstanding projects. Deng Jianqiang, executive deputy director of the museum, said that the exhibition season project is of great significance to the professional construction of the art museum. "There are three main aspects of significance. First of all, it mobilized the enthusiasm of the art museum for the research and combing of the collection, improved the professional management level and management ability of the museum, and helped the art museum determine its own academic positioning and collection direction, that is, based on Chongqing, based on the locality, based on the collection and combing of art history. Secondly, it further exerts the social value of the collection and enhances the art education role of the collection. The third is to cultivate and train a group of curators for the art museum, especially professional talents such as young curators. The National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season has built a very good platform for learning and communication for art museums across the country. ”
▲ Zhejiang Art Museum's "Zhejiang Printmaking Centennial Art Special Exhibition" of the "Burning: Reading Lu Xun" series of audiovisual areas
Ying Jinfei, director of Zhejiang Art Museum, also said that the national art museum collection exhibition season has increased the enthusiasm of art museums across the country to study and exhibit collections, which not only promotes the professional development of the art museum itself, but also has a better role in promoting the research and collection of zhejiang artists' works. "The exhibition season project is aimed at the collection system of the art museum, and also promotes the Zhejiang Art Museum to make efforts from the two aspects of artist case study and collection, as well as the study and collection of different paintings, to drive new fine products into the collection, so as to continuously improve the collection system of the Zhejiang Art Museum." Taking the 'Zhejiang Printmaking Centennial Art Special Exhibition' awarded as an excellent project in 2021 as an example, the exhibition takes the centenary of the founding of the Party as an opportunity to completely present the printmaking collection system of Zhejiang Art Museum, and is also the research and appearance of the Zhejiang printmaker group, which also has a certain role in promoting the development of Zhejiang printmaking. Ying Jinfei said.
Wu Hongliang, president of the Beijing Academy of Fine Arts, said that the exhibition season of fine collections has played a role in guiding and promoting the development of the Beijing Academy of Painting and art museums in many aspects. "The first is to promote our in-depth study and activation of the collection, while recognizing the shortcomings of our own collection and the direction of future collection; second, it is to open the collection resources to promote exchanges with other art institutions, and to achieve the goal of common progress in cooperation and touring exhibitions; third, the long-term project has put forward great challenges to the flexibility of our exhibition planning angle, the possibility of constructing new dimensions and the continuity of talent training, so the launch and evaluation of the project have played a role in promoting training with exhibition and promoting change with exhibition." It is expected that this project will continue to be held, and there will be new improvements in ways and methods, so as to play a greater role in the development of national art museums! Wu Hongliang said.
Multi-pronged approach to make up for the shortcomings
▲ The exhibition site of the "Sunrise in the East - Shanghai Fine Arts Exhibition Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Communist Party of China" at the China Art Palace
The National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season Project not only promotes the development of the mainland art museum, but also shows some shortcomings in the development of the mainland art museum from one side. For example, the problem of unbalanced development of the art museum area. Taking the 2021 National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season as an example, 3 projects of the CENTRAL MunicipalIty and Beijing Municipality have won excellent projects; Guangdong has outstanding performance, and 3 projects have been rated as excellent projects. One project each in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Chongqing and Hubei was rated as an excellent project. In fact, in previous years, these areas have also been the main regions selected and awarded. Many art museums are limited to various conditions, which are difficult to shortlist, and further support and construction are needed. Secondly, the relevance of the exhibition to the times is not clear enough. Feng Yuan, deputy director of the Central Research Museum of Culture and History, said that the continuous launch of the fine exhibition season of the national art museum collection has promoted the rapid development of the national art museum and achieved good social benefits. However, it should also be noted that the collection of collections that have research value and innovative value for modern and contemporary art museums should be strengthened. "Contemporary art works, which are also part of the history of Chinese art, deserve the attention of art museums." Feng Yuan said.
It is worth mentioning that in view of the current situation of art collection in the mainland, in recent years, the "National Art Collection and Donation Reward Project" implemented by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has standardized and strengthened the support for the excellent donated collection projects implemented by the National Key Art Museum and the relevant units of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In the view of An Yuanyuan, deputy director of the National Art Museum of China, this project complements the exhibition season of fine works in the collection of national art museums, and has played a strong role in promoting the collection and display of the National Art Museum of China. For example, "Ministry of Culture and Tourism 2019 National Fine Arts Collection and Donation Award Project: Jin Shangyi Donation Works Exhibition" and the "Pingzuo Liangmiao - Zhu Huaixin Art Works Exhibition" held by the China Art Palace in 2020 were both selected for the exhibition season and the national art collection and donation reward project.
In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has also introduced a series of measures to promote the development of the art museum, such as holding the National Art Museum Young Curator Support Program, the National Art Museum Excellent Project Selection, etc., in order to strengthen the professionalization, standardization and standardization of the art museum, comprehensively improve the management level of the art museum and the quality of public cultural services, enhance the cultural influence and social contribution rate of the art museum, further prosper the cultural and artistic undertakings, and meet the growing spiritual and cultural needs of the people. In addition, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism also cooperated with the People's Network to launch an online display platform for the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season in 2019. As soon as the display platform was launched, it received positive feedback from netizens. The "Collection of Excellent Curatorial Cases of National Art Museums" organized by the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism was also officially published in 2019.
With the research and utilization of the collection as the core, exhibition planning, cooperation with Catholic education activities and online exhibitions, the "Exhibition Season" brand has been continuously deepened and enriched in the past 10 years. From the initial display of the collection, to the beginning of the research and sorting out of the collection, and with academic research to promote the exhibition display, with the Public Education activities to support the exhibition, and then supplemented by the use of digital means, enhance the influence of the art museum itself, and then drive new fine works into the collection... This virtuous circle not only allows the National Art Collection to truly play the role of leading cultural development, leading artistic creation and benefiting the people of literature and art, but also links the art museum's own collection, research, exhibition, promotion and other processes, cultivating brand value, enhancing academic character, and clarifying public welfare attributes. In order to implement the relevant requirements of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's "14th Five-Year Plan for Artistic Creation" on the development and collection of national art, and strengthen the promotion and dissemination of outstanding achievements, on February 16, the General Office of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the "2022 National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season Activity Plan". The 11th phase of the event has begun, and under the guidance and promotion of the country, the future of the mainland's art museum industry can be expected.
National Collections Shared by the People
Ann far away
In 2012, the Ministry of Culture (now the Ministry of Culture and Tourism) hosted the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season for the first time. This activity aims to fully display the fruitful results of the mainland art creation research, improve the level of collection and research of national art museums, continue to play a guiding role in art creation, and effectively enhance the public cultural service function of art museums, so that the broad masses of the people can share the excellent achievements of national art development.
It has been 10 years since the launch of the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season. Under the guidance of reasonable policies and strong administrative promotion, the Professional Committee of art museums of the China Association of Museums plays a professional coordination and organizational role, mobilizes the initiative and enthusiasm of art museums at all levels across the country, and actively participates in the exhibition season activities. In the past 10 years, the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season has launched nearly 300 exhibitions of nearly 100 art museums at all levels in the country, exhibiting more than 30,000 fine works of various types of collections, of which more than half of the works exhibited for the first time since entering the collection, and the number of visitors exceeded 10 million. Among these exhibitions, there are large-scale comprehensive exhibitions, as well as wonderful academic theme exhibitions; there are regional art genre explorations, and there are also in-depth case studies. Later, it added a touring exhibition, which further expanded the social influence of the national art museum collection exhibition season. Each exhibition has distinctive characteristics and is the result of careful planning, professional combing and in-depth research. The exhibition organizers also attract more audiences to participate in interaction through various forms of public education activities and further exert their social benefits. The influence of the industry and the word-of-mouth of the masses have become increasingly remarkable in the collection of fine works in the collection of the National Art Museum, and today it has become a resounding cultural brand.
The annual exhibition season of fine works in the collection of the National Art Museum is issued by the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism at the beginning of the year, and at the end of the year, experts are organized to check and accept the implementation of the selected projects, select a certain number of annual excellent projects and excellent organizational units, and issue certificates in the name of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. From the project declaration, the announcement of the selection list, the implementation of the exhibition of each selected art museum, the acceptance report review meeting after the completion of all projects, until the announcement of the annual list of excellent projects, each link is an opportunity for the art museum to make its own appearance and self-examination, so it has attracted much attention from the industry.
At present, there are still many problems in the development of national art museums, mainly because some collection resources are insufficient and it is difficult to participate continuously; academic strength cannot keep up, and good collections cannot play a role; urban development is unbalanced, exhibitions lack effective policy and financial support, and inter-library interaction cannot be formed. In addition, the development of national art museums is unbalanced, and the gap between the collection resources of each museum is large, how to give full play to its advantages and support each other is also a problem and challenge facing the industry. The National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season has built an excellent platform for peers to learn from each other and learn from each other's strengths. For example, some exhibitions are not limited to the inherent collections of each museum, but complement each other's advantages, share resources, and jointly create high-quality exhibitions. It can be seen that the national art museum collection exhibition season activities have effectively created an industry atmosphere of both active competition and mutual cooperation, both the collective concept of the industry and the sense of individuality. More importantly, this good industry atmosphere has also cultivated and spawned a number of excellent art museum planning teams and professional talents, truly achieving a win-win situation in the industry.
The report and defense session of the Acceptance Report Review Meeting of the National Art Museum Collection Collection Exhibition Season is also worth mentioning. The participating pavilions determine the theme of the exhibition, clarify the ideas, refine the academic views, plan the public education support, and add the on-site comments of the evaluation experts, which are open to the public through the media, which can be described as wonderful. The participants also believed that the reporting and defense itself was a very academic exchange, a rare opportunity to share experiences and expand ideas and broaden horizons.
After 10 years of hard work, the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season has established and improved the relevant operation and management mechanism, and systematically and systematically launched various types of exhibitions, which has greatly promoted the sharing of national art resources and the high-quality development of art museums. On the one hand, it drives the combing and research of works through the activation of collections, and then promotes the deepening of exhibition display with the results of academic combing and research; on the other hand, it supports and cooperates with public cultural and educational activities to enhance the influence of the art museum and then encourage new fine works to enter the collection, thus forming a virtuous double cycle. In particular, the art museums of colleges and universities use their profound academic background and research strength to open the art museums that originally only served teaching to the whole society, which also played a good linkage effect here.
The national art museum collection boutique exhibition season not only cultivates the brand value of the exhibition and enhances the academic character of the exhibition, but also truly realizes the benefit of literature and art, and highlights the status and value of the art museum in the process of aesthetic education for the whole people. Taking the National Art Museum of China as an example, as the country's highest art hall, it not only took the lead in participating in the exhibition season activities, but also created its own collection revitalization series exhibition brand. In recent years, the National Art Museum of China's collection revitalization exhibition has often launched a blockbuster, which has often become a topic of widespread concern in society, and plays an important role in meeting the aesthetic needs of the people in pursuing a better life. As Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum of China, said: "The revitalization of works in the collection by the art museum is responsible for history, respect for artists, and more importantly, a return to the country and the public." ”
February 27, 2022 "China Culture News"
The first edition featured a special report
"Remarkable achievements, the future can be expected."
Review of the National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season in the Past Ten Years"
Editor-in-charge: Chen Xiaoyue