Collecting Asian Contemporary Art: What, When,
and How?
On 9 September, directors of prominent
international museums shall meet to discuss the future of
Asian contemporary art collections. The conference is
organized by Chinese born curator and critic Hou
Hanru in collaboration
with ShContemporary.
Identifying a complex cocktail of issues in
Asia including the relationship between new thriving economies
and pervasive art speculation, the lack of professionalism in
Asian museums, and Western cultural fetishism towards Asian
contemporary art, Hou Hanru has invited a panel to bring up
provocative thoughts and proposals to deal with a wide range
of questions, including the following:
What’s a public institution today, in the
age of the commoditisation of art?
How do specific visions and strategies for
collecting affect the missions of different museums,
especially in the context of Asian contemporary
art?
How can collecting contemporary art affect
public policy when increasing attention is paid to the
production of culture and art by public
authorities?
Why collect Asian contemporary art, in the
end? And what will be an ideal museum for it?
Speakers include:
Kathy Halbreich – Deputy
Director, MoMA, NY; Frances Morris – Head of
Collections (International Art), Tate, London; Alexandra
Monroe – Senior Curator of Asian Art, Solomon
Guggenheim Museum, NY; Wang Huangsheng –
Director, CAFA Art Museum, Beijing; He
Juxing – Director, Mingsheng Art Museum,
Shanghai; Tan Boon Hui – Director, Singapore
Art Museum, Singapore; Suhanya Raffel - Head of Asian and
Pacific Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane; Raiji
Kuroda – Chief Curator, Fukuoka Art Musem,
Fukuoka; Uli Sigg – private
collector, Switzerland; Guan Yi – private
collector, Beijing
DISCOVERIES 2010 – RE-VALUE
An
Exhibition and Conference
As rising economies in Asia give birth to
new art markets where artist prices can grow a hundred fold in
just a few years, the question of what gives art its value
seems an important issue to discuss with new collectors. Since
the art market has become larger than ever before, it also
wields more power to determine what is deemed valuable.
However, the relationship between art and value is just as
complex today as it has always been, and the clarity provided
by the art market is only part of a matrix of meanings that
the word value has.
The exhibition
Discoveries:
Re-Value is a group show of 25 artists curated
by Mami Kataoka, Manray Hsu, and Colin Chinnery at
ShContemporary that asks pertinent questions about the meaning
of value from different perspectives: a show that questions
the nature of the art market within its own commercial
context.
The Conference
Re-Value: The Construction and
Consumption of Value in Contemporary Art is a
conference hosted by UACC & ArtTactic in collaboration
with ShContemporary. Split between two sessions, the seminar
will first invite representatives from museums, art journals,
foundations, auction houses and galleries to discuss the art
system that constructs value from art; and then invites
collectors to discuss value from the other side – those who
recognize and consume the value in art.
CDP – Asia Pacific Collector
Development Programme
This series of conferences and debates on
collecting art is part of ShContemporary’s special long-term
project, CDP, which aims to help educate and stimulate a new
generation of collectors in China through events, tours, and
publications.
ShContemporary
9th-12th September 2010
Shanghai Exhibition Centre
No.1000 Yan An Road (Middle)
Shanghai 200040
China
Press contacts:
Press Office – Asia
Sophie Wang
Press Office – Europe, Americas, Middle
East
Eva Altosaar
