More than 900 works by more than 700 artists are on display

Guangdong Museum of Art.

The Baietan Dawan Art Center will open in May. As an important part of the art center, the completion and opening of the Baietan, Guangdong Museum of Art, is a milestone event in the history of Guangdong art. On the occasion of the opening of the new museum, the Guangdong Museum of Art specially planned and launched the "New Era, New Leap - Guangdong Museum of Art New Museum Series Exhibition", which comprehensively displays the glorious history of modern Chinese art and Guangdong art, and presents a high-quality art feast to the public. This series of exhibitions includes "The Age of Awakening: The Inheritance and Evolution of Chinese Art in the First Half of the 20th Century", "The Passionate Years: The Transformation and Construction of New Chinese Art", "The Tide Rises in the Pearl River", "The New Era", "The Touch of the Future: Immersive Digital Art Exhibition", "City Chain: The Wind Rises in the South", "The Garden of the Future: Contemporary Public Art Exhibition", and "Frozen Poems: Masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Baroque Collection of the Borghese Museum" A total of more than 900 works by more than 700 artists at home and abroad were exhibited, with diverse themes, rich content and grand scale.

Before the opening of the museum, Wang Shaoqiang, director of the Guangdong Museum of Art, accepted an exclusive interview with a reporter from Nandu. He said that the completion and opening of the Baietan Dawan Art Center will bring new development space and opportunities to the Guangdong Museum of Art, and the Guangdong Museum of Art will form a new pattern of "one museum, two districts, dislocation development" in the two major museum areas of Baietan and Ersha Island.

"One hall, two districts, dislocation development"

Located in the east of Baietan Dawan Art Center, the Baietan Museum has a construction area of 65,000 square meters (excluding public areas) and an exhibition area of 25,000 square meters, with 21 exhibition halls and a vast public art area. Wang Shaoqiang told reporters that the Baietan Museum will focus on the ecological research of Chinese contemporary art and the development of international contemporary art, explore international art exchanges and cooperation, and strive to build a comprehensive contemporary art venue with international influence that shows the achievements of Lingnan culture, promotes the construction of the humanistic bay area, and promotes exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations.

The new museum has been completed, so the use of the old museum Ersha Island Pavilion has also become a topic of concern for many people. Wang Shaoqiang told reporters that in the future, the Ersha Island Museum will focus on the study of modern and modern Guangdong art since the 20th century, and build an important base for the study of modern and modern art history in Guangdong. At the same time, the museum focuses on promoting the protection and restoration of artworks in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and South China, injecting new momentum and stimulating new vitality into the development of Guangdong's fine arts, culture and museums.

In the future, the "Guangzhou Triennial", "Guangzhou Image Triennial", "Guangzhou Design Triennial" and "GDMoA Academic Nomination Exhibition of the Year" and other academic brand projects with international influence founded by the Guangdong Museum of Art will continue to witness and promote the development of Guangdong fine arts and Chinese contemporary art with the Baietan Museum as the core base.

Eight exhibitions are opened, and art starts a new journey

The Guangdong Museum of Art has specially planned eight exhibitions for the new museum. The first seven exhibitions are based on the collection of the Guangdong Museum of Art in the past 30 years, and borrow classics from the collections of the National Art Museum of China, the National Museum of China and other institutions and art institutions to display the classics of Chinese art, especially Guangdong art in different historical periods. Among them, there are not only Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Lin Fengmian, Wu Changshuo, Huang Binhong, Gao Qifeng, Gao Jianfu, Chen Shuren, Pan Tianshou, Fu Baoshi, Li Keran, Guan Shanyue, Li Xiongcai and a number of fine works of modern and modern Chinese painting masters, but also bring together the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Chinese Artists Association in recent years to organize the creation of major historical theme art creation projects, national theme art creation projects, Guangdong reform and opening up practice theme art creation projects, Guangdong Province New Era Theme Art Creation Project and other excellent works that express the social style of the new era, and also create immersive digital exhibitions, contemporary art experimental exhibitions, etc., with a variety of art forms to bring the audience different aesthetic experiences.

The specially introduced "Frozen Poems: Masterpieces from the Renaissance to the Baroque Collection of the Borghese Museum" will display 55 authentic works by Italian and northern masters from the 16th to the 17th centuries, such as Raphael, Rubens, Titian, etc., showing the confidence and ability of Guangdong art to consciously embrace the world classics.

"The Guangdong Museum of Art will take the opening of the Baietanguan District as an opportunity to focus on high-quality collections, high-level utilization and high-quality services, launch more high-quality exhibitions, promote the cultural prosperity of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and foreign civilizations, and contribute to the construction of a culturally strong province and Guangdong to be at the forefront of Chinese-style modernization. Wang Shaoqiang said.

Interview

Wang Shaoqiang, Director of Guangdong Museum of Art:

"Three museums in one" form a joint force to promote cultural display each other

Nandu: The eight exhibitions of the new museum span the ancient and modern times of China and the West, and the vision is very broad and diverse, please introduce the planning ideas of this exhibition, what kind of collection foundation are they based on, and how do they respond to the positioning of the new museum as "contemporary and international level"?

Wang Shaoqiang: At present, the Guangdong Museum of Art has a collection of more than 40,000 pieces (sets), covering traditional categories such as Chinese painting, oil painting, printmaking, sculpture, and contemporary works such as installations and videos, and has established a collection and research system of five major sections, including "Guangdong art, modern Chinese art, contemporary art, overseas Chinese art, and international art and art literature", which is the most important art collection and research base in South China. The collection of the Guangdong Museum of Art illustrates the glorious history of the development of Guangdong art from the 20th century to the New China, from 1949 to 1987, and from 1987 to the new era, and seven of the exhibitions in this opening exhibition are based on the collection of the Guangdong Museum of Art in the past 30 years.

In addition, there is an exhibition of European masterpieces planned in collaboration with the Borghese Museum in Italy, which will be held as a special exhibition. This also reflects the open attitude of Guangdong art at the forefront of the country's reform and opening up, and we hope to promote international art cooperation and exchanges through this exhibition.

In addition to these two important sections, we have also curated public art exhibitions in different sections of the museum. Public art can form a dialogical relationship through space and art. Participating in this public art exhibition are public artists from Guangdong such as Song Dong and Xu Hongfei, as well as internationally renowned artists such as Anish Kapoor. In particular, the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the China Academy of Art and our team in Guangzhou have jointly planned three digital art exhibitions for Lingnan and the Greater Bay Area, from the three parts of "Lingnan Landscape", "Crossing the Bay Area" and "Lingnan Flowers Blooming", which will bring many new experiences to our audience, such as the three-dimensional nature of the exhibition. Therefore, I also appeal to the public to come to the new Guangdong Museum of Art in the Greater Bay Area Art Center in Baietan.

Nandu: How do you view and understand this relationship of integration and symbiosis at the Baietan Dawan Art Center, which brings together the Guangdong Museum of Art, the Guangdong Literature Museum and the Guangdong Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Center?

Wang Shaoqiang: In fact, there are many museums in the world that are similar to this "three-in-one" form of museums. For example, in New York, for example, there are many museums in the center of the city that are connected. In Europe, for example, there are many museums in Rome and Paris. On the one hand, this method is to share resources, on the other hand, it is to bring convenience to the audience when viewing the exhibition, and at the same time, it can also find a new way in the research and exploration of the museum. I think that this time, Guangdong will combine the three museums to launch the Baietan-Dawan Art Center, which can form a joint force of the entire museum group, make a new exploration for the development of the museum community, and we will also leverage each other's strength to promote the display of our culture.

Nandu: As an important cultural public facility, what kind of new experience do you think will be provided to the public in terms of cultural benefits and public services?

Wang Shaoqiang: The Guangdong Provincial Party Committee attaches great importance to the "three-in-one" project, which reflects the great importance it attaches to public cultural services. Therefore, we will continue to study and curate more rich exhibitions, increase overseas cultural exchanges, and promote the development of local artists. In addition, in terms of public education, we will also launch a series of projects, including a three-month art education program during the opening of the museum.

Nandu: After the opening of the Baietan, how do you see your next mission?

Wang Shaoqiang: For an art museum, public cultural services are very important, and we hope to be as thoughtful as possible, to provide more convenience for the audience and citizens as much as possible, and to continue to do a good job in the establishment of collections, exhibition planning and public cultural service systems, and we must continue to work hard in all of the above.

Written by: Nandu reporter Zhu Rongting intern Xie Zhishan

Photographer: Nandu reporter Liang Weipei