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Big museums, big art, big vision
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Shanghai will be spoiled for choice when it comes private museums this year as the new West Bund Cultural Corridor is shaping up as the city’s latest art magnet.
Two new — and very big museums — are to open this spring on the Huangpu River.
Shanghai is already known for its M50 art hub on Suzhou Creek, the China (Shanghai) Art Pavilion in the Pudong New Area, the Rockbund Art Museum on the north end of the Bund, and the relatively isolated Power Station of Art in Huangpu District.
The much-anticipated and just completed Yuz Museum of Chinese and Western contemporary art will open in May. It covers 9,000 square meters, incorporating the 3,000-square-meter main hangar of the old Longhua Airport in Xuhui District. The old hangar is now a spectacular glassed-in “green cube,” joined by a larger vivid red structure with an undulating roof.
Yuz Museum
A ceremony to mark the completion was held this week.
Another anticipated venue, the Long Museum West Bund, is expected to open in late March. It covers a construction area of 33,000 square meters and an exhibition area of 16,000 square meters.
The last undeveloped waterfront area, today’s West Bund Cultural Corridor has been known to marathon runners, but not many other residents.
The district has big plans. From October to December, the major open-air Architecture and Contemporary Art Biennale was held along the river — West Bund 2013.
Chinese-Indonesian entrepreneur and collector Budi Tek aims to create a network of Asian museums, his first being in Jakarta, and now a second in Shanghai.
The name Yuz comes from his Chinese name Yu De Yao.
“This museum further attempts to draw the world’s eye to Shanghai,” says Tek who has built up a considerable collection of contemporary art, especially installation art, in the past decade. The former enormous hangar will house installation art from around the world.
By retaining the unique sense of grandeur of this enormous structure, the space perfectly sets off the installations in Tek’s collection.
“For many art lovers in Shanghai, the opportunity to see a variety of Chinese installation is rare due to limitations of space, transport and maintenance. But Yuz Museum will compensate,” says local artist Wang Yuhong.
The museum was designed by visionary Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto who designed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, winning the Marcus Prize for Architecture in 2013.
Fujimoto doesn’t disappoint. While traditional museums are known as “white cubes,” Fujimoto calls the spectacular glassed-in hangar the Green Cube, greenish in color, facing the water and bordered by greenery.
The waterfront on the east side of the museum is an open-air public gallery where the border between the art space and the public is transparent.
Long Museum
The Yuz Museum is not standing alone at the West Bund Cultural Corridor.
Long Museum West Bund, the second private museum of super collectors Liu Yiqian and his wife Wang Wei. The Chinese entrepreneur is one of the biggest collectors of ancient and Chinese contemporary art.
Last year, Liu opened his first private museum in the Pudong New Area, showcasing ancient Chinese art and some contemporary artworks.
Tycoon Liu is a living example of the Chinese dream. Born in 1963 into an ordinary working-class family in Shanghai, Liu left school at age 14 to help his mother with her handbag business.
Wang Wei, his wife, is the director of both private museums. The couple is a part of new generation of wealthy Asians better known for splashing out on private jets, mega-sized yachts and supercars. Some families, like Liu and Wang, have built impressing art collections and aspire to showcase their refined sensibilities to a wider audience,
Highlights of the collection include two Song Dynasty (960 AD-1279) pieces and another five from the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
According to Wang, their 10,000 square-meter museum in Pudong costs nearly 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) a year to operate.
But the daunting cost of running a private museum is not the only price of big collecting. In recent weeks, Liu has faced controversy over the authenticity of some of his collection.
On December 21, three researchers from the Shanghai Museum asserted in the Xinmin Evening News that his calligraphic work Gong Fu Tie was a forgery from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The work was attributed to Song Dynasty (960 AD-1279) poet and calligrapher Su Shi (1032-1101).
The Gong Fu Tie was a farewell letter to Su’s close friend Guo Xiangzheng (1035-1113). Guo, also known by his literary name Gong Fu, was a poet as well. They differed in political views, but were good friends and exchanged poets and paintings often, according to historical records.
Liu purchased the Gong Fu Tie for more than 50 million yuan at auction in New York last September.
A debate is underway and Liu said he is awaiting further authentication from Sotheby’s, from which he bought the work.
The controversy has raised doubts about the authenticity of other works purchased by Liu for astronomical prices at other auctions around the world. The issue of fakes is persistent in Chinese traditional art.
Nonetheless, Gong Fu Tie will be displayed at the launch exhibition for the Long Museum West Bund.
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