Looking to New Institutional Models: China's Cultural Landscape by Mid-Century

Recent years have witnessed a dramatic and much-documented “museum boom” in China, with the number of private museums having tripled from 277 in 2009 to 864 by 2014. China-based platform Museum 2050 was initiated in 2017 to consider the cultural and social impacts this exponential growth will have by mid-century and how this growth will affect audiences and ideas about existing museum frameworks. Additionally, the platform has a distinct focus on being a resource for young people from all over China, many of whom largely work and inhabit these institutions, as well as providing a place to converse, share ideas and create a vibrant museum community.  

Museum 2050’s inaugural symposium Looking to New Institutional Models: China’s Cultural Landscape by Mid-Century took place June 9-10, 2018 and sought to critically examine the diverse museum practices in both official and private domains of the Greater China Region. The fourteen papers presented at the Long Museum, Shanghai have been compiled into the platform’s first publication of the same name, investigating how institutional frameworks are fostered by the unique social and cultural dynamics at play in China and how this might impact the global art system. From questions of audience development to examinations of international influence, Looking to new institutional models: China’s cultural landscape by mid-century addresses the unique and unexplored potential at stake in China’s developing institutional landscape.