The Paper's reporter Chen Ruoxi and Lu Linhan
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At the end of 2016, Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, was interviewed by The Paper for the first time to talk about the East Building of the Shanghai Museum in preparation. At that time, the East Pavilion had only one conceptual concept and the blueprint being drawn. More than five years have passed, and the Shangbo East Pavilion has begun to take shape and is in the final sprint of civil construction.
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the East Pavilion and the countdown to the opening of the East Pavilion, Yang Zhigang recently accepted an exclusive interview with the surging news in the outdoor exhibition area of the "Jiangnan Garden" on the fifth floor of the planned East Pavilion, talking about the construction of the East Pavilion, the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Museum and the precious spirit of the Shangbo. Yang Zhigang mentioned that the 70 years of Shanghai Bo are also the 70 years of brilliant achievements in Shanghai's cultural and cultural undertakings, reflecting the relationship between "one museum and one city".
I remember that 6 years ago, Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum, was interviewed by the surging news for the first time to talk about the East Hall of the Shanghai Museum in preparation, when the East Museum still had only a concept concept and a blueprint being drawn. According to Yang Zhigang's description, the surging news reporter found the site of the East Pavilion, Pudong Huamu No. 10 Plot, and saw a vacant land surrounded by high and low green trees and reeds.
The East Hall of the Shanghai Museum is located in Plot 10 of Huamu in Pudong, which is probably the last piece of land with a relatively large and complete volume in the downtown area of Shanghai. The Paper's reporter Jia Ru Tu (taken in 2016)
In March 2022, the East Hall of the Shanghai Museum is under construction. Photo by The Paper
After more than five years of cold and summer, from the foundation laying of the project, to the capping of the main steel structure, to the civil sprint... After several epidemic lockdowns and restarts, the East Pavilion has begun to take shape.
Sunny early March, Shanghai has just entered the spring, the surging news reporter from The Hidden Exit 1 of Lilac Road into the Construction Site of the East Pavilion of Shangbo, under the leadership of Yang Zhigang, made a preliminary visit to the East Pavilion.
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Video: Curator's guided tour to explore the architectural appearance of the East Building of the Shanghai Museum. Edited by Lu Linhan (04:26)
"At present, our civil construction is doing the final sprint, hoping to complete the infrastructure and acceptance in the first half of the year, so the time is very tight." Since the construction of the East Pavilion, Yang Zhigang, who works in Puxi on weekdays, generally comes to the construction site once a week, and if he catches up with the meeting, he will come more frequently, he laughed that he came to the site to see the progress of the construction period, the second is to see the construction quality, and the third is to pay attention to the construction status of the workers.
The building of the Shangbo East Pavilion under construction is a rectangular block as a whole, the shape is simple and straight, and the overall tone is conspicuous white. On the day of the visit, the workers were working on the stone curtain wall, which was equivalent to wrapping the façade of the East Pavilion building with the last layer of clothing, and the overall shape of the building was ready to come out. "The façade stone you see now is granite imported from Brazil, which is different from the "marble skin" we originally announced to the outside world. Yang Zhigang said that considering that granite is the strongest and most fast stone material, and this Brazilian white hemp takes into account the aesthetic requirements, "it has some natural textures, which echo the hazy mood of Chinese landscape painting." ”
The façade of the Shangbo East Pavilion is under construction. Photo by The Paper
In the design of the façade of the Shangbo East Pavilion, the curve symbolizes the ocean, and the flatness symbolizes the land, reflecting the concept of "sea and land intersection"
"The façade has both a curved arc and a plane, symbolizing land and sea, alluding to the geographical location of Shanghai's 'sea and land confluence' and symbolizing Shanghai's cultural character." Director Yang described the overall style presented in the end of the building not only pursuing the atmosphere and modesty in the spirit of Shanghai, but also emphasizing that it should be considerable artistry.
More than 20 years ago, the Shanghai Museum chose the site of the People's Square to build a new museum, and the advanced concept almost created a wave of museum construction in an era, and the Shangbo East Museum has both inheritance and innovation compared with the main museum building. For example, the outstanding feature of the Shangbo People's Square building in terms of architectural shape is the combination of a square base and a round standout, which has the meaning of China's "heavenly round place". The main body of the East Pavilion is rectangular, and a circular revolving ramp is embedded in it, which also reflects a combination of square and circle.
The four masks of the Upper Bodong Pavilion have different openness and public space designs
Shanghai Museum People's Square Building
At the same time, Yang Zhigang also used the three words of "open", "shared" and "composite" to summarize the characteristics and highlights of the East Pavilion in terms of architectural layout and space creation.
The so-called openness, reflected in the openness of the physical space, such as the east, west, south and north of the building are set up with a certain height of glass curtain wall or open space and the outside world, including the top of the first floor corridor area is a 180 square meters of oval glass curtain wall dome, 40 meters high hall top is a 680 square meters of glass dome, sunlight, natural light can penetrate from all directions to the interior of the space, the audience enters the museum, no longer just a closed space, but can overlook the city landscape, Communicate and resonate with the city and modern life.
The oval glass curtain wall dome of the Shangbodong Pavilion is under construction. Photo by The Paper
The lobby on the first floor of the ShangboDongkan building is under construction. Photo by The Paper
In Yang Zhigang's description, the open-air area on the fifth floor covering thousands of square meters is also an exciting space, where a group of Jiangnan garden buildings are imitated, and the indoor exhibition hall is also an extension of the indoor exhibition hall outdoors, reflecting the openness of the museum space. "After watching the Jiangnan cultural theme exhibition from the exhibition hall on the 4th floor, our audience can walk to the fifth floor, where the garden art of Jiangnan will be presented with the help of the technique of stacking mountains and rivers." "There are pavilions in the garden, and the events of the museum's wonderful night can also be held here in the future."
Standing on the fifth floor terrace to the east, looking at the nearby open-air circular circular ramp extending from the third floor to the roof of the fifth floor, and in the distance across a lilac road is the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. As a leisure walkway from the third floor to the fifth floor, this huge revolving ramp is likely to become a punching point for Shanghai's new Internet celebrities.
The open-air area on the fifth floor of the ShangboDongkan is under construction. Photo by The Paper
The revolving ramp of the ShangboDongguan is under construction. Photo by The Paper
"Two years ago, when I went to the hospital to see a doctor, the doctor saw that the unit on my medical record card said Shanghai Museum, and he told me, 'The first place to talk about friends is in your Bobo.'" Yang Zhigang said, "In the future, when the audience comes to the Bo, in addition to watching the exhibition, there will be more experiences realized in the space of the museum, leisure, socializing, catering... ”
"The function of the museum should be composite, which requires that they be fully taken into account in the layout of the building and the creation of space, and the museum should be the audience who likes to come and is often willing to come."
After the East Pavilion is completed and put into use, the situation that once occurred when the Exhibition was set up in Shangbo needed to be demolished to carry a large number of cultural relics will become history. According to Yang Zhigang, in the future, container trucks transporting cultural relics can be driven directly into the East Pavilion, which greatly improves the safety of cultural relics transportation. At the same time, the East Pavilion also has a special passage for employees and cultural relics. "The museum was built relatively early, and sometimes the cultural relics are mixed with the staff and audience passages, and the cultural relics need to be transported at night, and the East Hall can be carried out simultaneously in the future."
The light reading corridor of the Shangbo East Pavilion is under construction. Photo by The Paper
The cityscape can be seen from the window of the light reading promenade. Photo by The Paper
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Expo Museum. The new museum of Shangbo People's Square has been open for more than 20 years, and while becoming an important window of urban culture, it has changed the spiritual temperament of this specific area of People's Square. According to the plan, the Pudong Huamu plot where the Shangbo East Pavilion is located will be built as a cultural administrative center of huamu, which is a new cultural agglomeration.
In the outdoor exhibition area on the fifth floor of the upcoming museum, Yang Zhigang pointed to several buildings in the west and introduced to reporters, "In fact, this place is adjacent to the financial district, and the future ecology will be very interesting, and the administration, culture, art, and finance will present a highly intertwined and integrated state." I don't know how many wonderful collisions will happen here, but it should be said that it is the engine of urban culture and a place that can stimulate the vitality of innovation. ”
Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum. The Paper's reporter Jia Ru Tu
Interview with Yang Zhigang, director of the Shanghai Museum |
Shangbo is a window facing the world and the world facing us
The Paper: I remember that six years ago, Shangbo announced the news of the construction of the East Pavilion, and Director Yang gave us an exclusive interview for the first time to talk about the planning of the East Pavilion. In that interview, you mentioned that the Shanghai Museum launched a project called window, which contains six keywords to reflect some of the concepts and value orientations in the planning of the Shanghai Bodong Museum, such as building a smart museum, focusing on interactivity, and expanding, diverse, open and world-oriented. With the specific construction of the museum, has the original concept been adjusted or changed? How did these ideas land in the East Pavilion?
Yang Zhigang: Our value concept of the museum is definitely the same as ever, such as the "wisdom museum", Shanghai has raised the digital transformation to a development strategy, and now the rise of the "meta-universe" exploration, our "wisdom museum" construction has been unprecedented support, now the specific goal is: to establish relevant standards, vigorously promote the digital collection and processing of collection resources, to create a more advanced and perfect collection management platform, to achieve data in cultural relics protection, research, display 2. Application support in communication and education; with the goal of building the world's top ancient Chinese art museum, forming a digital resource opening mechanism suitable for the collection of Shanghai museums, establishing a digital resource library for the public, using digital information and display platforms such as official websites, official microblogs, weChat, etc., for the public to share and use; make full use of modern information technologies such as virtual reality, Internet of Things, cloud computing, big data and mobile Internet, and strive to build a smart service-oriented museum, and fully apply digital technology to ticket management. Audience data collection and analysis, mobile tour services, online virtual museums, digital cultural creation and other businesses, further improve the level of digital management, and build a one-stop museum management platform that integrates comprehensive office, cultural relics management, project research, etc.
Yang Zhigang is at the construction site of the Shangbo East Pavilion
Yang Zhigang is at the construction site of the Shangbo East Pavilion
The Paper: The establishment of a digital resource library for the public, which is a topic of great concern to the public at present, there are already many museums at home and abroad are promoting the digitization of collections, and have successively opened digital resources to the public, such as the Smithsonian Institution in the United States, the Paris City Museum Alliance in France, as well as the National Palace Museum and the National Palace Museum in Taipei, etc. What attempts and explorations will the Shanghai Expo do in this regard?
Yang Zhigang: The Shanghai Museum has opened up a number of considerable digital resources to the public with the help of the Internet, and has also carried out useful explorations of "digital humanities" in combination with the exhibition, such as the "Dong Qichang Digital Humanities" project, which has been well received and is in a leading position in the industry. Further research and development is now underway. It is true that the people's demand for this aspect is growing, new views and new technical means are also emerging in an endless stream, and we still need to make continuous efforts and continuous struggle. This includes selecting some representative collection resources that are in line with the image and temperament of the Shanghai Museum, and transforming them into a digital public good with more social influence and novel form as soon as possible.
The Paper: Like several other keywords, such as "interaction", "innovation", "diversity", "openness", "facing the world", how to reflect specifically?
Yang Zhigang: Specific to the interaction, we can introduce several cases, one is the Exploration Palace for children and teenagers, the characteristics of this exhibition hall are different from our other cultural relics exhibition halls, it is located near the rotating ramp area, and the openness of that area is a little higher. In the Exploration Palace, we will have some projects that combine the concept of exploration with the contents of humanities, arts and civilization, relying on the advantages of the Shanghai Museum's collection and exhibition characteristics, to help children learn knowledge, expand their horizons, enrich their experience, and more importantly, from primary schools to explore the thinking and ability.
In addition, we have a cultural relics restoration display area, because the audience is very interested in some of the backstage work of our museum, always worried, in the cultural relics restoration display area, you can see how our cultural relics conservators and non-hereditary inheritors specifically restore cultural relics. Through this open display, the audience can get a close look at the protection and restoration of bronze, ceramics, calligraphy and painting cultural relics in the museum. There is also a digital pavilion, and we are doing further creative design to better reflect the interactivity of the museum.
Concept map of The Upper Bodong Pavilion, with a circular ramp leading to the roof garden
ShangboDong Pavilion's dining area and terrace
Openness is related to the concept and way of running the museum, but also reflected in the openness of the physical space, such as the cultural relics exhibition hall needs to be fully enclosed to do full closure, all use artificial light, but we meet the premise of cultural relics protection requirements, but also hope to have some natural light penetrating, so that the audience in the museum to visit, there will be a more diverse feeling, the East Hall has a completely open outdoor space, with floor-to-ceiling glass to separate the space inside and outside, the audience can look at the city landscape, In this way, even in the museum, there is still a kind of communication with the modern city, which will bring some different feelings.
I think the museum is not just a record, a projection of heritage, it is also the place where new cultures, new ideas, and new ideas take place, which is inseparable from this space and the kind of influence and shock brought by the content displayed in it.
The Paper: There is also a key word that is "facing the world", how do you explain this?
Yang Zhigang: The so-called facing the world, I think there are two points, one is that our museum and its buildings should be in line with the development trend of modern world museums, rather than deviating from each other, which requires us to judge the development trend of world museums.
From the beginning of the construction to the follow-up construction process of The ShangboDongGuan, we are constantly learning some of the latest museum construction experience at home and abroad, including the advantages and advantages of some of the world's top museums, and we have always paid great attention to this aspect of learning.
Secondly, I think the museum is a bit like a container, an American urban studies scholar Lewis Mumford once proposed that the city is a cultural container, in fact, the current museum is more and more like a container, so how to create this container, what exactly does this container produce? I think this is also to have a world vision, we must cooperate with world-class museums, let the world enter the Shanghai Museum, but also let the Shanghai Museum integrate into the world.
The world is a very important dimension, especially in Shanghai, where the East Building of the Shanghai Museum is built, and it is impossible to lack this dimension of the world.
So we first proposed the Window plan, window is the window, not only is our window to see the world, but also the world through this window to see the Bo, look at China, this is an important implication of window.
Lewis chess pieces, sea tusks, circa 1150-1175 AD, found on the Isle of Lewis, probably made in Norway, exhibited in the Exhibition of Hundred Objects of the British Museum introduced by the Shanghai Museum
Statue of Kola, exhibited in an exhibition of Greek artifacts introduced by the Shanghai Museum
The Paper: What do you hope to present to the world through the window of Shangbo?
Yang Zhigang: Splendid Chinese civilization. We want to present to the world the long-standing Chinese culture, and today we create a new civilization through mutual learning and mutual learning; to show the outside world our level of museum management, and how to interact with the public, reflecting our people's position of serving the people; and our understanding of art, the pursuit of modern aesthetics, I think these can be seen in our museums.
Some people in the past have said that from the library, you can see both the past and the present of a nation, and I think the same is true when you look at the museum today, and even you can see how it looks to the future, and you can hear its steps towards the future.
Thomas Gilding, The White Cottage of Chelsea, 1800, watercolor on paper, exhibited in the collection of the British Tate Britannia, introduced by the Shanghai Museum
The Paper: How do you understand what you mean by "people's position"?
Yang Zhigang: The architecture of the East Pavilion reflects the characteristics of openness, sharing and compounding. The audience should be very comfortable and enjoyable in this museum space, can be integrated into it, and even feel that this space is created for them, such as carefully setting up a series of shared spaces. This reflects a people's position; for example, the Shanghai Museum has held a total of 33 donation exhibitions in the past 70 years since its establishment, and in the recent year to welcome the 70th anniversary of the Shanghai Museum, it has successively held three donation exhibitions of "Prosperous Thousand Autumns", "Gaoshan Mountain Tour" and "Shengshi Fanghua", holding such donation exhibitions, on the one hand, to express our respect and commemoration of the donors' righteous deeds, on the other hand, it is also to show that this is the people's museum, the museum comes from the people, and serving the people is our unchanged original intention.
In the future, in the East Hall and the People's Square Hall, which has completed the overhaul, the exhibition of various donations will continue. Here can be a spoiler in advance, there are several opening special exhibitions in the Shangbo East Pavilion, including the donation exhibition, when the national treasure-level cultural relics collected by the Shangbo Museum, which is also the eagerly awaited Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Ke Rou Silk "Lotus Pond Milk Duck Diagram" will meet with the audience.
The East Pavilion exhibition is a permanent exhibition, and the main hall focuses on the theme exhibition
The Paper: You also mentioned earlier that the exhibition design concept of the Shangbo East Pavilion revolves around one main line (ancient Chinese art) and two auxiliary lines (the Belt and Road and Shanghai and Jiangnan culture), and with the opening date of the museum, there is no more detailed plan for the design of the exhibition. In addition, as far as we know, the planning of the East Pavilion has also undergone some adjustments, how was the positioning and division of labor between the Main Building and the East Pavilion finally set?
Yang Zhigang: The overall vision of the exhibition in the Shangbo East Pavilion has not changed significantly, and the specific positioning and plan have made some adjustments compared with the original announcement. Originally, the positioning of the Shangbo East Pavilion was to do theme exhibitions, and now it is decided that this side is mainly a permanent exhibition. We will create the world's only general history series of ancient Chinese art along the main line of "ancient Chinese art", divided into bronze, sculpture, ceramics, calligraphy, painting, seal, jade, coins 8 topics; in addition, in recent years, we have strengthened the study of Haipai culture and Jiangnan culture, especially in recent years, the municipal party committee and municipal government attach great importance to the excavation of Haipai culture and Jiangnan culture, and we have also received new strong support.
Da Ke Ding, Collection of Shanghai Museum
Although the Shanghai Museum is a museum facing the whole world, since it is rooted in the local area and located in Shanghai, we should explore and present the culture of Shanghai.
In the future, in the Shangbo East Pavilion, we will hold a permanent exhibition of archaeology in Shanghai, a permanent exhibition of Haipai calligraphy and painting, and a permanent exhibition of Jiangnan culture, but such exhibitions are not displayed according to the material of cultural relics, they will be interpreted according to the theme, the theme is permanent, and the specific exhibits and content and angle will be adjusted regularly. This is also a contribution of Shangbo to shanghai to build a brand of Jiangnan culture and Shanghai culture, and will also become a major feature of the Shanghai Museum's exhibition.
The content of the "Belt and Road" is not as colorful as the original, but we will have an exhibition reflecting the maritime Silk Road trade porcelain to respond to such a grand theme.
The focus of the museum in the future is on the theme exhibition, as well as a large number of temporary exhibitions, we hope that the People's Square building will have more temporary exhibition space in the future, which can introduce the world's high-quality resources to Shanghai. Because Shanghai's urban positioning is a global city, the Shanghai Museum is also responsible for mobilizing global high-quality resources. As I said just now, looking at the world through Shanghai and letting the world see Shanghai will become an important direction of our efforts in the future.
Tang Sun Wei's "Gao Yi Picture Scroll" (partial), Shanghai Museum collection
The Paper: What are the characteristics and highlights of the Shangbo East Pavilion in terms of architecture and space construction?
Yang Zhigang: I just mentioned three points: openness, sharing, and compounding. Open, shared has been mentioned earlier, what is compounding? Today's audiences come to the museum not only to see the exhibition and see the cultural relics, but also have many experiences that can be put into the museum space. I summarize the Shanghai Museum in this way, it should first be an art hall, under such a premise we must also let the museum become a classroom that the audience likes, which can be a hall where the audience exchanges ideas and collides with the spark of ideas, and can also be a guest hall for citizens to relax and date, these four "halls" roughly reflect the complexity of the function of the museum.
The Paper: Since you took office at the end of 2014 and have been presiding over the preparation of the East Pavilion for many years, have you left some experience worth learning from in the construction of the museum? The epidemic that has lasted for several years during this period is an "emergency" in the construction process of the East Pavilion, and has this public event affecting the world have had some impact on the construction of the museum, including the future direction of the museum? Including the exhibition, you have groped forward before, but also accumulated a lot of experience in holding exhibitions under the epidemic, the current situation at home and abroad is complex, the epidemic and war will bring obstacles to international cultural exchanges, how will you respond?
Yang Zhigang: In terms of the construction of the East Pavilion, I hope that the current external environment can be more conducive to the construction and development of the museum, the external environment includes many existing procedures are very harsh on us, of course, these procedures also have its rationality, but from the perspective of our career development, especially like we must follow a certain time node to advance, or hope to be able to get some policy, institutional mechanism care and inclination, of course, under the premise of ensuring that the rules and regulations are legal. As far as possible, it is convenient to provide some convenience in some links.
When it comes to the impact of emergencies such as the epidemic on us, it is necessary to enhance the ability to deal with uncertainty, which I think is a very important ability after the outbreak of the epidemic. When we make a plan during the epidemic, we must have various plans, especially if we do international cultural exchanges, there are few plans. For example, the year before we held the "BlackStone Shipwreck Cultural Relics Exhibition" and last year we held the "China-Europe Ceramic Exchange Exhibition", all of which have corresponding adjustable plans, and then in this process, we continue to adapt, balance, and finally work in the direction of maximizing the goals that can be achieved.
Special exhibition of Ceramics and Cultural Exchange between China and Europe
On the other hand, we have also made some new efforts during the epidemic period, paying more attention to the excavation, collation and display of our own collections. In today's situation, if you want to rely on external cultural relics to hold exhibitions, there are too many constraints, and if you want to be able to hold a successful exhibition under the epidemic, you must have a strong ability to "internal circulation", such as "Ten Thousand Years of Changchun: Shanghai Dynasty Calligraphy and Painting Art Special Exhibition", "Silk Danqing - Ming and Qing Embroidery Calligraphy and Painting Special Exhibition", Shangbo Donated Cultural Relics Exhibition, etc. are all exhibitions that were launched after sprint research in the last year on the basis of the original research, and also achieved good social repercussions. Therefore, in the past two years, we have strengthened the "internal cycle", the external cycle has done a good job, and the internal and external cycles have formed a benign combination and interaction.
The precious spirit of Shangbo left behind by 70 years of Shangbo
The Paper: Shangbo will usher in the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the museum this year, and the new museum will also be put into trial operation at the end of the year, what specific measures, commemorative activities or exhibitions will be taken to welcome this special moment?
Yang Zhigang: Originally the ideal plan was from January 1 to December 31 this year, the whole year will be our museum celebration year, the original plan was to announce the start of the annual museum celebration on the last museum magic night on December 31 last year, but at the end of last year, when there was a new wave of epidemics, this plan was shelved, but our activities are advancing. This year we will launch a 5+2 exhibition system.
5 refers to five series of exhibitions in the museum, namely the "Why China" Archaeological Art Exhibition, the "Splendid China" Historical and Cultural Exhibition, the "Global Colorful" World Art Civilization Exhibition, the "Civilization Mutual Learning" Sino-foreign Exchange and Comparison Exhibition, and the "Collection elite" theme exhibition.
2 is the "Chinese culture going out" international cooperation exhibition and the city's domestic cooperation exhibition two series of pavilion outreach.
"Sheng Shi Fanghua" Shangbo donated cultural relics exhibition site, Southern Song Dynasty Zhang Jizhi's "Book to be Leaked Hospital Volume" (partial)
In 2022, the exhibitions launched in the People's Square building include: the Spring Festival Exhibition of the Year of the Tiger held in conjunction with the Kyushu National Museum in Japan (January); the exhibition of cultural relics donated by the Bo bo in "Shengshi Fanghua" (March); the Archaeological Exhibition of Henan Xia Shang Zhou in cooperation with Henan; and the Greek oil painting exhibition with the theme of marine civilization in cooperation with Greece.
Among them, the Greek oil painting exhibition is scheduled to open in June this year, this exhibition is also a twist and turn, from the original plan of 2020 to 2021, and from 2021 to 2022, now after repeated consultations, the file period is set for June this year, here is facing exhibits uninhibited and on-site delivery, so the difficulty is relatively large. We have also made some appropriate program adjustments, such as trying to reduce the scale and specifications of the exhibits a little, so that the partners can rest assured, so as to promote the smooth progress of the exhibition.
The overseas exhibitions mainly include: going to the Liechtenstein National Museum to host the "Shangbo tibetan bamboo carving art exhibition"; going to the National Museum of Korea to participate in the special exhibition "The Beauty of Lacquerware: Looking at the Lacquer Craftsmanship in Asia".
The Paper: What are the opening exhibitions of the East Pavilion in the second half of the year?
Yang Zhigang: There will be a series at the opening of the museum, and preparations are being stepped up. What can be revealed here is that I just mentioned that we will exhibit the Southern Song Dynasty silk "Lotus Pond Milk Duck Diagram" in the treasure room of the third exhibition hall of the East Pavilion, which once appeared on CCTV's "National Treasure" together with Da Ke Ding and Shang MartinGaling Fangsheng, but the physical object has not been exhibited, because it is an organic cultural relic, it is quite difficult to preserve, it has been hidden in our warehouse, and we are ready to make a grand appearance when the museum is opened, and meet the audience who has been looking forward to it for a long time.
Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Ke Rou Silk "Lotus Pond Milk Duck Diagram"
Southern Song Dynasty Zhu Ke Rou Silk "Lotus Pond Milk Duck Diagram" part
The Paper: Are other permanent exhibitions open with the East Pavilion?
Yang Zhigang: There should be a process, from trial opening to full completion and opening, there will be a gap in the middle. The exhibition of the museum is a very meticulous work, we have been creating our exhibition since the beginning of the east hall project, and we are still in the refining stage of the concept design.
If we can overcome all kinds of difficulties, I hope that the East Museum can be opened on December 21 this year, because the Shanghai Museum was established on December 21, 1952, which is our celebration day. There is also a detail in this, when the East Pavilion was writing the house number, we made a request, hoping that the house number of the Bodong Pavilion was No. 1952 Century Avenue, which had such an implication.
Shanghai Museum in the early 1950s
In the 1990s, the Shanghai Museum People's Square building was completed
This also reflects the importance we attach to the history of shanghai museums. In the past 70 years since its establishment, the Shanghai Museum has formed a valuable spirit and fine tradition of Shangbo, and hopes that through the celebration activities, on the one hand, a new chapter will be opened, and on the other hand, those successful experiences and excellent traditions will continue to be carried forward.
These 70 years are also 70 years of brilliant achievements in Shanghai's cultural and cultural undertakings, which is reflected in our idea of celebrating the museum as "one museum and one city", that is, by reviewing the 70-year history of Shanghai Museum, we can look at the glorious development process of Shanghai's cultural and museum undertakings and see the future development of Shanghai. The future development of Shanghai should be docked with the future development of Shanghai, and I have always stressed that the development height of Shanghai is the goal we want to climb.
The Paper: What do you think is the most precious spirit and fine tradition of Shanghai Museum left behind in the past 70 years?
Yang Zhigang: Many years ago, there was a good refinement of the spirit of Shangbo, summarizing the ten words of "dedication, innovation, first-class, cooperation and pragmatism". From my point of view as a curator, I must lead the team well, then there are many meanings in the construction of the team, I think the most important thing is to practice internal skills and consolidate our basic business.
The title of the book inscribed by Mayor Chen Yi for the publication of the Shanghai Museum
Why the Shanghai Museum has a high reputation at home and abroad is inseparable from our solid foundation and strong business capabilities. For example, even since the outbreak of the epidemic, the international exchanges of Shanghai Museums have not stopped, our cultural relics have been exhibited in several overseas museums, and many overseas museums have also borrowed many cultural relics to be exhibited to the Shanghai Museum, and our introduction progress and outbound exhibitions have not pressed the pause button, which is rare.
We have accumulated a lot of successful experience in holding exhibitions under the epidemic situation, some of which are exhibitions done without cultural relics escorts, without experts to hand over cultural relics on site and participate in the dismantling of exhibitions, which fully shows that the other party has great trust in our business capabilities and rest assured that cultural relics of various materials will be handed over to our experts and curatorial teams. These are not achieved overnight, but the excellent skills accumulated over the past 70 years to win the trust of others. Each exhibition is actually a presentation of our solid basic skills externalization. Of course, any good exhibition starts with a good idea, and then through a good team cooperation and the joint efforts of the whole museum, this exhibition plan is realized.
This process eventually leads to a phenomenon that can be called "emergence" or "emergence", which is a concept commonly used in systems science, which refers to the convergence of various diversities to form an ecosystem, and when it is just right, its energy will burst out and there will be breakthroughs. I think that like we hold an exhibition is a "sudden appearance" again and again, and the final creation of the presented content will surprise all parties, this process is especially inseparable from a professional team tacit cooperation, everyone will exert their strength. I think the Shanghai Museum has a lot of successful experience in this regard, which is what I feel most deeply in the 70 years since its establishment.
Member of the Shanghai Municipal Cultural Relics Preservation Committee in 1949
Excavation site of The Songze site in Qingpu in 1974
So we must talk about what good spirit and tradition the Shanghai Museum has inherited, and I think there should be a "career chain". The "career chain" of the Shanghai Museum is relatively complete in the Chinese museum industry, including our own archaeological team, which can do field excavations, and then transform the cultural relics excavated in the fields into our exhibits step by step.
I particularly emphasize that the Shanghai Museum has four pillar disciplines, the first is cultural relics and art history, the second is archaeology, the third is cultural relics protection and restoration, and the fourth is museology. We must build these four pillar disciplines well, so that the foundation can be solid and can we face the future.
The power of the museum emanates naturally from the inside out, like a flower blooming from a bud. The "internal strength" of the Shanghai Museum involves all aspects, including discipline construction. Many people understand academic establishment as doing some projects and doing some projects. No, what the Shanghai Museum must do is to become an academic town, which requires discipline construction, only in this way can you stand at the height that others do not have, and constantly achieve breakthroughs and innovations.
Excavation site of Fuquan Mountain in Qingpu, Shanghai in 1986 (ma chengyuan, Wang Qingzheng and Huang Xuanpei from left)
The Paper: Finally, I would like to ask you to talk about the 70th anniversary celebration of Shangbo this year, which is not only a summary of stages, but also a new beginning for the future, what are the new challenges, and your prospects for future work.
Yang Zhigang: When it comes to challenges, I think it is necessary to be both upright and innovative. This innovation is not a head-on shot, it needs to be based on a lot of research and judgment, and then it must be combined with its own capabilities. From the current point of view, I am more pleased that the group of young and middle-aged scholars and librarians who just entered the Shanghai University 8 years ago are constantly growing, and have made achievements and achievements. Of course, the years are also very merciless, and I have watched their hair turn white from black to now, and the amount of hair is getting less and less. However, I think it is still necessary to put pressure on them, build a platform, and let them further display their talents. Young librarians recruited in the past five or six years need to step up professional training and grow up rapidly. Museums are a place that requires lifelong learning, and it is impossible to innovate without learning to shout and be righteous.
We still have to focus on the overall development, in addition to practicing internal skills, consolidating the basic business, we must also create a variety of public products and dedicate themselves to the audience. Another is to do a good job in education and communication, for example, we have a very good interaction and exchange with the media, and with the joint efforts and support of the media, the image of the Shanghai Museum has indeed been well disseminated. For example, some of the films we have made not only talk about cultural relics, but also introduce our experts, which is called "internal and external double repair", which is needed.
The image of the Shanghai Museum needs to be displayed, and after the image is displayed, you will have the right to speak, and it is possible to further communicate with the international community and realize the allocation of global resources, which is a complete logical chain.
Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Shanghai Museum
Editor-in-Charge: Weihua Gu
Proofreader: Liu Wei