Chinese art museums: organisational models and roles in promoting contemporary art

Abstract

The museum devoted only to art is a relatively novel concept in China, nevertheless, in the last years, thousands of contemporary art museum have flourished all over in the country. This phenomenon follows a more general ongoing renovation process of the entirety of the national art institutions system, which has started in the 1990s. This paper aims to outline a general framework of the most recent development of contemporary art museum in China, in order to answer some questions: which kind of art museum exhibits Chinese contemporary art, and consequently, what is their role in promoting this art? Finally, considering the host of problems in the management and long term curatorial planning, it aims at examining whether it is possible to identify a sustainable way to manage contemporary art museums in China. This analysis has been drawn following a field research on Chinese contemporary art museums, focussing on museums observations and interviews held with stakeholders (artists, museum directors and curators) involved in the museum work in some of the major cities of China.