It is expected that the East Hall of the Shanghai Museum will be completed and opened next year, and the "expansion" will not only be the area, but also the upgrading of functions
【Executive Summary】
◆ Continuous exploration of better openness and greater inclusiveness is the real driving force for the development of museums in the future.
◆ All kinds of openings are in order to make the museum finally realize "usable" and "happy use", and realize the opening of the museum from material to spiritual.
China is moving towards a world museum power, and many cities in China are building a "museum city". Recently, a number of large museums such as the Yangzhou Grand Canal Museum of China, the New Museum of the Tomb of the First Emperor of Qin, the New Museum of Zhengzhou Museum, and the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Museum have been completed and opened, and a number of new cultural landmarks such as the West Hall of Suzhou Museum, the Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, the East Hall of Shanghai Museum, and the East Hall of the Capital Museum are also about to be unveiled.
The distance between the public and the museum is getting closer and closer. The continuous exploration of better openness and greater inclusiveness is also the real driving force for the development of museums in the future.
The Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, which is expected to open within this year, will become the first museum in China to focus on archaeology
Museums around the world are embracing the "third opening" and will increasingly become a space where audiences can express, be willing to express, and dare to listen to others
Looking back at the history of museums around the world, "openness" has never changed since museums were regarded as public institutions worth pursuing, and since the emergence of museums in the strict sense. Of course, museums in different eras have different "open views", which also form different pursuits.
The history of museums for more than 300 years is composed of the "open trilogy", showing the progress of the relationship between museums and society. In short, it is from the museum of the people, confirming legal attribution and public access, realizing the most obvious openness, which can be expressed with the feet; to the museum for people, confirming the subjectivity of the public, realizing the openness of space and things, which can be expressed with the eyes; to the museum by people, confirming the public's right to interpret the museum, Openness expressed with mind and mind. Today, we are facing a third opening up.
Publicness is the self-declaration of the museum of modern and modern significance, and it has made a necessary and decisive cut with the various holy relics, secrets, treasure houses, treasure cabinets, and salons that have existed in history. In 1683, the Ashmore Museum in Oxford, England, opened to the public. In 1753, the British Museum was founded as a museum as a symbol of the country and the people, and opened to the public a few years later. From the last 25 years of the 19th century to the first 25 years of the 20th century, with the establishment of classic types of museums from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Museum of Chicago, the Art Museum of Ontario, etc., museums became the focus of the public and the center of knowledge production, and global museums ushered in the first golden age. Over the past three centuries, from the first women being admitted to museums, to the entry of blue-collar workers into the exhibition halls, from museum nights for laborers to social education courses for housewives, from barrier-free access to hand-touch exhibits, museums around the world have continued to break down visible and invisible access barriers and expand their scope of opening. This confirms the opening of the museum in legal theory, access control norms, and hardware facilities, that is, the first opening of the museum, "museum of people".
From 1990 to the present and for a long time to come, museums around the world are in the second golden age. In the central city, the new museums invariably use super-large scale to occupy the cbd of the city, forming a dazzling urban skyline in the sense of actual architecture and landscape. However, only when it becomes an essential part of the urban skyline in a cultural sense can museums cheer the arrival of a truly second golden age. This requires museums to achieve more, better, and deeper openness. In fact, at the beginning of this golden age, museums are already exploring the second opening towards "museum by people", actively demolishing walls to provide more resources and cultural services to the public. The "visible" and "accessible" that Dena Nissel refers to is part of the quest, and more and more museums are incorporating this openness into their exhibitions. Many museums have placed the restoration of cultural relics that were originally hidden deep underground or in the background on the exhibition line of the exhibition hall, and the audience can see how bronzes, marble statues and paintings are restored step by step through the glass and even outside the isolation line. The Brunliburg Museum in Paris uses a sunken walkway to turn the instrument storehouse into part of the exhibition line, and also pioneered the storeroom-style display. With the digitization and networking of collections as the core, the wisdom museum that has touched all parts of the museum from conservation to education is also the product of the second opening. The "wall-tearing" spark of museums has activated museums around the world, and we are seeing museums doing their best to open up to the public more.
However, this is still not enough! Let's return to some of the shocking assertions of the first golden age of museums, "museums should assume educational functions" and "museums should be like department stores", which shows the essential duties and characteristics of museums. Education is the core function of the museum, but the museum is different from the school, not a compulsory or compulsory educational institution, but a field of self-education for the public. So it's time for us to come up with a deeper level of openness, and this is the third opening that museums are moving towards, the "museum by people." Museums should return the right to production of knowledge to the audience and all kinds of people who are represented, so that the museum can instill knowledge from a one-dimensional, top-down place into a space where the audience can express, be willing to express, and have the courage to listen to the expressions of others.
The Recent Trial Operation of the Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Museum is the first 24-hour museum in China (Source: Zhu Kai Architectural Office)
How much magic technology is depends on the museum people's understanding of the way of openness, and all kinds of technologies and means are aimed at realizing the openness of the museum from material to spiritual
How can the traditional museums we are familiar with embrace the third opening? What does their future look like? Is there an omnipotent technology that can achieve this kind of openness? All technology, all wisdom, ultimately depends on the way museum people are open to the museum, or how to return to the understanding and choices of the public that nourishes the museum. Therefore, the greatest wisdom of the Wisdom Museum is the wisdom of transfer. The practice of many museums has accumulated a little experience for us to welcome the third opening.
First, museums may wish to try to give exhibits and interpretations to the public, helping them to express and interpret. From the "temple" to the "forum", it is a true portrayal of the "openness" of the museum along the way. The new church in the heart of Amsterdam has been the center of the city's political and religious life since its heyday and is also the burial place of prominent figures throughout the ages. After the museumization of the new church, a special exhibition called hero was held in 2007. At first, many people thought it was a regular and old-fashioned exhibition of historical celebrities based on the title alone. In fact, the "hero" that is the focus of the exhibition can be interpreted, whether it is a heroic figure full of masculinity, a protagonist or an idol. The exhibition creatively handed over the power of interpretation and curatorial convenience to the audience, especially the younger audience, and eventually, people saw the appearance of modern icons such as the Beatles and Mandela in the final section of the exhibition, which unexpectedly activated the seemingly decent theme of the exhibition.
With the help of "outside the museum" wisdom, the Guangdong Provincial Museum has also stimulated curatorial creativity to a greater extent in recent years, injecting new vitality into itself. In 2016, the museum launched the audience curator system, and after strict evaluation, the first curator outside the museum with the theme of Ming and Qing Dynasty blue and white porcelain was born. Around the upcoming "Dream of the Red Chamber" cultural exhibition, the museum is carrying out a sound collection activity, inviting the audience to read the poems of "Dream of the Red Chamber" in different dialects and languages, and telling the experience and voice of reading "Dream of the Red Chamber".
Secondly, it is precisely based on respect for the living public of the present that traditional museums need to re-integrate the fragmented "history" and "reality", so that history becomes a living element of modern life, and tradition can be used for the present and the future.
When we exhibit bronzes today, if we do not consider the influence of bronze patterns on the design of modern arts and crafts patterns, do not consider how bronze inscriptions have affected the changes in calligraphy since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, and do not consider the social concepts expressed by the three generations of bronzes that still exist vividly in our lives, bronzes can only be regarded as objective and isolated "art", and it is difficult to connect with the public and society today.
In recent years, the museum cultural creations that have been highly sought after by the public, whether it is the old form and the new system, or the new elaboration of the old elements, are all beneficial attempts to "link" the tradition with the present, of course, the current attempts still have a tendency to homogenization and the embarrassment of primary wandering.
Today's museums can also contribute to the inheritance and innovation of historical art. Originally discovered in Luoyang, Tang Sancai is an art form rooted in the land of North China with powerful radiation capabilities. Historically, sancai art centered on Luoyang has influenced several dynasties, such as the Northern Song Dynasty Sancai, Liao Sancai, Jin Sancai, etc., and also influenced many countries, from Silla Sancai and Nara Sancai to Persian Sancai and Annam Sancai, and so on. It can be said that Sancai is the best physical evidence of China's cultural strength in history. Now, the Luoyang Museum has set up a special exhibition hall to display the historical Sancai art, but it does not treat the historical heritage in isolation and isolation - because the colorful ceramic craft tradition represented by sancai has been continued in the Luoyang area, modern sancai art has also been invited to the exhibition hall space, realizing the reflection and dialogue between ancient and modern.
Even museums that preserve and display historical and cultural heritage should see themselves as living elements of contemporary culture. Museums can make a more profound contribution to a larger, broader society. The opening of the Guggenheim Museum has greatly enhanced the image of the Spanish port city of Bilbao and helped the city to successfully transform.
Third, the museum should clearly show its identity as a social and educational institution, as a carrier of expression and interpretation, and be liberated from the obsession centered on things, especially treasures. "Objects" are still the center of museum business, but there is no need to dwell on "original objects" and do not have to chase "treasures". For museums as a product of social publicity, alternative and even multi-purpose exhibits will play an increasingly important role in serving the public. The impact of these exhibits on the "original" only exists in the value of the treasure, and the educational function is not affected in any way.
In this regard, some attempts have appeared in our field of vision. The "Meicheng Tianlong - TianlongShan Grottoes Digital Restoration International Tour Exhibition" and the "Ode to Great Beauty , Yungang Grottoes Millennium Memory and Dialogue" held at the Shanghai Baolong Art Museum both use digital technology to restore cultural relics, or resolve the difficulties of the exhibition of immovable cultural relics, or eliminate the unresolved legal attribution problems.
I actually have more hope that the museum does not mind or even boldly use "reproductions", whether it is "originals" or "reproductions" can be used appropriately to tell stories, but also hopes that the audience will no longer be attracted to the museum only those "treasures".
Of course, the strategies that museums can practice today are much more than that. But in the final analysis, all kinds of openings are aimed at allowing the museum to finally achieve "usable" and "happy use", and to realize the opening of the museum from material to spiritual. According to such a standard, in the current museum, whether it is a smart museum that only solves technical problems, or a borderless museum that only dismantles boundaries and expands in the sense of time and space, it is incomplete and incomplete.
Author: Xu Jian (Head of Department of History, Shanghai University, Distinguished Professor)
Editor: Fan Xin