However, despite their turbulent conception, this first group of pioneering private art museums provided Chinese contemporary art with a much needed launch-pad. Many of today’s big names in the art scene like Zhang Xiaogang, Fang Lijun and Yue Minjun all had their early works collected or exhibited in this first group of private art museums.
Change
It was for this reason that Zhang Zikang, curator of Beijing’s Today Art Museum, decided to register the art space as a NPO. In doing so, he hoped to enhance the museum’s long-term sustainability. The Today Art Museum was founded in 2002 by Zhang Baoquan, an amateur artist and also the CEO of China’s top real estate company Jindian Group.
“What is an art museum all about?” asked Zhang Zikang during an interview last June with sohu.com, one of China’s major web portals. “It’s about social causes, rather than personal acts.” According to Zhang, the traditional attitude of relying on financial support from one or several entrepreneurs, while aiming to make a profit, was simply untenable. Moreover, if an art museum is geared towards making money, “what is the difference between a museum and a commercial gallery?” he asked.
When Zhang Zikang, a former publisher, accepted the position of curator at the Today Art Museum in 2004, the museum’s operation was in chaos. “I decided to run the museum in accordance with international practice,” explained Zhang. After visiting several well-established art museums in the United States and Europe, he realized the importance of academic and educational roles. “What we ran was not a real art museum,” he declared, believing that the ill-defined purpose of many of China’s private museums was a prime contributor to their eventual failure.
“However, we found that our ‘art museum’ didn’t fit into pre-existing registration categories” he said. “People didn’t know what it was.” The museum was finally registered as a non-profit organization, with the registration number “001.”
Gu Yan, curator of the Yuan Art Museum, wasn’t aware that a museum could be both privately owned and a registered NPO until a chance encounter with Zhang Xinjian, the vice chief of the culture market department of the Ministry of Culture.
“We had been actually operating as a non-profit museum since day one,” said Gu Yan. “The government showed a positive attitude towards what we do. They also wanted to help. But the situation is also totally new to them.”
Ma Kelu, a well-known artist and art director of the Yuan Art Museum, agreed with Gu, suggesting that as Chinese society has become increasingly sophisticated, the government has been forced to adopt a policy of “loose management” in order to cope with the ever changing situation.
Problems
The biggest problem now faced by Gu Yan is linked to the museum’s funding. While operating the old Yuan Art Center, the monthly cost stood at around 500,000 yuan (US72,000). “I had to regularly sell personal assets to keep the center going,” she said. Gu’s financial problems were further compounded by the cost of museum’s opening exhibition, which cost Gu a total of 500,000 yuan (US72,000).
In addition to the museum’s funding issues, Gu also faces ongoing problems due to a lack of official regulation. “We cannot even hang banners and flags on the walls of our museum. If we do, we would be fined by the urban administration authorities for ‘setting up illegal advertisements.’”
“We are trying our best to follow accepted international standards,” explained Gu. However, operating in accordance with international standards is no easy task. “For example, most of our exhibitions run for more than two months, which means during this period of time we’re unable to collect income that would otherwise be generated from renting out our exhibition space.”
“We are exploring,” said artist Ma Kelu. Public art education is still rare in China. Currently, State-owned public art is restricted due to its close links to government policy. It is therefore expected that private museums will assume this function.
“Relevant policies need to catch up with the changing situation,” said Zhang Zikang, curator of Today Art Museum. “We need soil to grow. And our soil is nothing but favorable government policies, support from society at large and people’s understanding of the role and social functions of art museums.”
May 2010
