The exhibition of Chinese character cultural relics of Fengxian District Museum "Danjia Qingwen" will end on October 8. This is another blockbuster annual exhibition launched by Fengbo since its opening, following the "Yongzheng Palace Cultural Relics Exhibition", "The Light of Ancient Shu" Sanxingdui Jinsha Site Excavated Cultural Relics Exhibition, and "With Heaven Wuji" Shaanxi Zhou, Qin, Han and Tang Cultural Relics Essence Exhibition. Since May, the exhibition has attracted nearly 300,000 visitors, which is an outstanding achievement for district-level museums.
In May 2019, the new Fengxian District Museum was put into operation, and the "first-class standard" exhibition hall reserved inside enabled it to undertake the highest level of temporary exhibitions in China, attracting 172,000 visitors in three months. Recently, "Yanzi Academy" was officially opened, and the layout of Fengbo's "one hall and two wings" was further improved.
More than four years after its opening, the development trend and reputation of Fengxian Museum have continued to improve, and in the past two years, Fengbo has ranked in the top three in the district-level comprehensive museum ranking of the Shanghai Museum Index. As a district-level museum located in the suburbs, what is the traffic password that Fengbo has frequently gone out of the circle and maintained evergreen in recent years? Among the more and more "volume" district-level museums, how does Fengbo get out of the road of differentiation? In the layout of the construction of Fengxian New City, how can Fengbo become a bridge connecting business, culture and tourism? A few days ago, the reporter walked into the Fengxian Museum to explore the story behind the "small museum held a big exhibition".
Curating, not just "take-ism"
In 2019, the new Fengxian District Museum located next to the "Fish of Shanghai" opened for business, with a total construction area of 36,000 square meters, and its spatial pattern and functional facilities are still in the forefront of all museums in Shanghai. The effect of the new opening of the old museum and the first exhibition is the key to whether this museum, which has invested more than 600 million yuan, can make a brand in one fell swoop. Fengbo found the Palace Museum.
For district-level museums, being able to reach a cooperation with the Palace Museum is already "open" to some extent: with the traffic that the Palace Museum brings, as long as it can borrow any mature curatorial plan, it indicates half the success. Therefore, when Fengbo discussed the topic selection with the Palace Museum, the other party gave the first preference for the Kangxi or Qianlong exhibitions, which have perfect display texts and outlines, and the cost of copying experience is low and less prone to errors.
Fengxian Museum - "Yongzheng Imperial Palace Cultural Relics Exhibition"
But Zhang Xuesong, director of the Fengxian Museum, wants to work the "other half". "As an exhibition organized by a district-level museum, we hope that the content of the exhibition can be intertwined with the local historical context of the region." According to historical records, in the second year of the Yongzheng Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, the construction of Jiangnan Haitang began, and the existing "Huating Haitang" monuments in Fengxian were built at that time; In the fourth year of the Yongzheng Dynasty, Fengxian County was established separately. "Just do the big exhibition of Yongzheng", the two museums hit it off.
But from a curatorial point of view, "innovation" brings difficult challenges. First, little has been done in the previous Yongzheng Cultural Relics Special Exhibition, and Fengbo has combed the outline of the exhibition from almost scratch; Second, many cultural relics collections from the Yongzheng period have never been exhibited to the public, and are scattered in various warehouses of the Forbidden City, requiring multi-department coordination, and the mechanism is quite cumbersome.
Bright yellow painted gold cloud dragon pattern dark flower gauze men's single dynasty robe / Palace Museum collection
Moon white satin embroidered gold dragon pattern copper nails Yongzheng Emperor imperial cotton armor / Palace Museum collection
The two parties worked together, and Fengbo's first special exhibition of Yongzheng cultural relics in Shanghai, which integrated Fengxian elements, became the largest exhibition of Yongzheng cultural relics in the Forbidden City so far, and many cultural relics were released from the palace for the first time, which contributed to Fengbo's reputation out of the suburbs of Shanghai and even Shanghai.
In Zhang Xuesong's view, rejecting simple "take-ism", creating more innovative and unique exhibition forms for existing themes, and focusing on "originality" curatorial ideas are the foundation of Fengboan's life. He is very clear that in terms of resources, the "circle of friends" of district-level museums is not large enough, and it is difficult to completely "jump out of the dust" in the selection of curatorial topics; In terms of location, Fengbo, located in the outskirts of Shanghai, has no advantages, and the higher the transportation cost of visiting the exhibition, the higher the audience's expectations for the quality of the exhibition. "Put yourself in the shoes of an hour or two and see only to see the same exhibition copied from other museums, and the audience will be disappointed."
At the "Danjia Qingwen" exhibition, a 3.8-meter-long Ming Dynasty holy decree
But in terms of borrowing genuine products, Zhang Xuesong instead emphasized "taking them all". For example, in March 2021, archaeological excavations at the Sanxingdui site reopened, becoming one of the hottest topics of the year. In June of the same year, Fengbo launched the "Light of Ancient Shu" exhibition of cultural relics unearthed at Sanxingdui Jinsha site, which once again brought tourists from home and abroad to this museum in the suburbs of Shanghai. Regarding a certain detail of the exhibition, Zhang Xuesong cried and laughed: "Many viewers asked after watching it, are these all fakes exhibited by Fengbo? In other words, a district museum can host exhibitions on the hottest topics of the moment, which makes the audience feel unbelievable.
Fengxian Museum - "Light of Ancient Shu" Sanxingdui Jinsha Site Excavated Cultural Relics Exhibition
In fact, among the more than 130 precious exhibits from the Jinsha Site Museum in Chengdu and Sanxingdui Museum in Guanghan, Sichuan, except for 3 treasures of the town hall that "must not be taken away", they are all genuine works. This year's "Danjia Qingwen" Chinese Character Cultural Relics Essence Exhibition, its exhibits involve 10 provinces and cities and 26 museums across the country, among which 17 exhibits such as Shang Dynasty oracle bones, Zhongshan Wang Cuo inscribed dragon ornamented copper square pot, "Prince Wu" copper ding, Song Tuo's "Seventeen Posts", Zeng Hou Bing's turquoise square gang, etc., are national first-class cultural relics, which can be seen.
Zeng Hou Bingfang
"Due to limited resources, district-level museums sometimes find it difficult to borrow too heavy and precious exhibits, and some museums will focus on introducing replicas of masterpieces in order to attract audiences, but we prefer to be a little niche, but the fidelity of the exhibits, so that the audience does not lose hope, the real is the power of ten thousand powers." Zhang Xuesong said.
From "exhibiting cultural relics" to "repairing cultural relics"
In 2019, in the first week after the withdrawal of Yongzhengzhan exhibition, Fengbo's average daily passenger flow ushered in a "cliff-like" decline. Zhang Xuesong once felt uneasy about this: Without the blessing of the phenomenal exhibition, how can Fengbo maintain its regular appeal?
Now, when the reporter chatted with Zhang Xuesong again about the apprehension at that time, he admitted that such "traffic anxiety" is a thing of the past. On the one hand, Fengbo has a clearer exhibition plan, in addition to a large exhibition planned every year, borrowing resources with high gold content, permanent exhibitions and various small and medium-sized exhibitions in the museum continue to fill the schedule of the museum uninterruptedly, and with the gradual opening of classic cultural and tourism attractions such as Bubble Park, Shanghai Fish, and Nine Trees around the museum over the years, the cluster effect of cultural and tourism linkage also brings passenger flow.
"Fish of Shanghai"
On the other hand, in the off-season when the museum traffic is low, the museum will spend more time and energy on cultural relics protection and research and restoration work, and as one of the few museums in Shanghai with a cultural relics conservation and restoration center, Fengbo can walk a different path from other district-level museums.
In March 2022, Bongbo curated the "smallest exhibition" ever held by the museum, with only one work, titled: "Restoration Diary – The Rebirth of an Oil Painting". The origin of the exhibition is related to an Iranian oil painting from the 50s of the 20th century, "Portrait of Farok Jaafari". In 2021, the Cultural Relics Restoration Center of Fengxian Museum undertook the commissioned restoration of this collection, and according to Zhang Xuesong's recollection, the oil painting was almost "miserable" when it arrived in Fengbo because it accompanied two generations of masters to travel between Europe and Asia, and the oil paint was cracked and peeled off, making it difficult to analyze.
The restoration team conducted a meticulous investigation of the diseases of the collection, carried out effective restoration intervention on the collection in a scientific and standardized way, and finally allowed the works to be preserved to the greatest extent at the level of material remains. It is worth mentioning that the restoration process also accidentally revealed a past that has been sealed in the dust of history - according to collectors' recollections, the creator of the oil painting should be Iranian artist Fatola Kural Agassi, but an optical imaging revealed a signature hidden by a layer of paint, which brought new clues to the identification of the author of the work and opened a new window for art historiography.
The restoration process is very challenging and rewarding, which has inspired Zhang Xuesong: in addition to the collectible artwork itself, the process of restoring the restored cultural relics to revitalize and regain their style is also worth documenting and displaying. "The Rebirth of an Oil Painting" takes the process of restoration and the science and technology used in the work as clues, combined with the collector's own narration and discoveries in the restoration process, and tells the story behind the work around the study of art history.
"We hope that the exhibitions on the theme of restoration can unveil the mystery of cultural relics restoration to the general audience to a certain extent, and popularize the knowledge of cultural relics collection and conservation; It is also hoped that through the study of art history, especially the research theories and methods of the history of art science and technology, the creative styles and characteristics of artworks in different periods can be displayed. Zhang Xuesong said.
The figure of the invisible cultural relics restorer actually appears in every major exhibition of Fengbo. For example, after deciding to host the "Danjia Qingwen - Chinese Character Cultural Relics Essence Exhibition", the first task of the Fengbo Cultural Protection Center was to restore the "Shengxian Prince Stele Topology", the original stele of the Shengxian Prince Stele is 6.70 meters high and 1.55 meters wide, and the huge scale brings a cumbersome restoration process, from repair, small drag, full color, toya, blanking, inlaying, covering, painting... It took the team nearly forty days to complete the task.
Museums, more than "exhibition preservation" in the narrow sense
Four years ago, many locals had the impression of Fengbo that it was located on a certain floor of a small building next to the Fengxian Library, when the museum only had a permanent exhibition of nearly 100 square meters, and there were almost no collections with high gold content, only a sculpture of Qin Shi Huang with red eyes, which was eye-catching but incompatible with the historical context of Fengxian displayed behind him.
However, in Shanghai, with the growing demand of suburban people for a better life, some people have regarded cultural facilities as the "just needs" of daily life, and the completion and opening of the new Fengbo Museum and the blockbuster exhibitions brought every year can finally gradually fill the lack of high-quality facilities and consumption in the suburbs.
According to Hu Ying, deputy research librarian of the East China Normal University Museum, district-level museums are closer to the citizens in terms of location, belonging to "museums at the doorstep", which is more conducive to linking with surrounding cultural and tourism resources, uniting with other spaces such as streets and towns, and expanding the development of urban cultural tourism space. At the same time, as a cultural brand, the museum has a cultural driving effect on the city and the region, thereby contributing to the construction of five new cities in Shanghai.
"We are committed to building the Fengxian Museum into a cultural highland and urban classroom in Fengxian New City." Zhang Xuesong said. For example, in conjunction with the "Danjia Qingwen - The Essence of Chinese Character Cultural Relics Exhibition", Fengbo launched the "Millennium Chinese Character Treasure Hunt" study course and the immersive theater "Cangjie", which expresses the rich history behind the exhibition in interesting art forms, bringing a deeper aesthetic education experience to citizens of all ages.
Immersive Theatre "Cangjie"
With the official opening of Yanzi Academy, the development layout and functions of Fengxian Museum's "one hall and two wings" have been further improved. Zhang Xuesong told reporters that in addition to the new museum, the Fengxian Museum also has the Shenjia Garden and Yanzi Academy located in the center of the old city, which undertake different exhibition and aesthetic education functions. For example, Yanzi Academy is a cultural exhibition building integrating research, exhibitions and academic exchanges, and in the future, it will support the exhibition theme of the museum and undertake various cultural and social education activities such as lectures, forums, and research courses.
Yanzi Academy
Through the "new cultural route", "new landmark check-in" and "new way of research" formed by the museum aggregating the surrounding cultural and tourism resources, Fengxian Museum will explore the use of cultural and plastic tourism to promote the in-depth integration and development of culture and tourism by means of tourism and culture.
And this comes back to the "location" problem of Fengbo's least advantageous "location", how to make every tourist who comes from afar gain something, and see the cultural style of Fengxian, willing to stay for it, still need to work hard.
Editor-in-chief: Huang Yongdi Source: Fengxian District Museum
Source: Author: Shen Siyi