DSL Magazine: Issue 6

View of Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai last bastion of Western culture Public museums have actually not traditionally been part of Chinese culture, and because of the troubled history of the 20th century, no complete public collection of contemporary art exists in China. Furthermore, the majority of exhibited works have still to be approved by censors. Besides, most of the public museums lack proper funding, critical discourses or curatorial directions. Despite their beautiful and contemporary design, they are often empty shells. The Guangdong Times Museum is probably one of the exceptions, being driven by a strong curatorial think tank and offering cutting-edge curators and artists talks. One of their earliest exhibition was entitled A Museum that is Not , reflecting their desire to escape mainstream conceptions and to search for their own path. Rather than copying traditional Western institutions, this frenzy period of museum-building could actually be a good opportunity for China to adopt a fresh attitude and to rethink deeply the museum culture. There have been actually already a few interesting initiatives, both taken from the private and public sector, such as K11 and M+.