As Shanghai’ s contemporary art scene continues to expand, the long awaited opening of Budi Tek’s Yuz Museum last week brings a major additional milestone to China’s Museum era.
Let us be even more precise: it reinforces one of the latest trends of the cultural fever that has been spreading out over the past years across the country- the explosion of Private Museums initiated by affluent art collectors. Just to give you an idea, out of the 100 museums that open every year in China, 15 % are private.
The Yuz Museum in Shanghai complements the famous Indonesian billionaire’s branch in Jakarta.
Designed by Sou Fujimoto, the visionary Japanese architect who designed the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, one can only feel overwhelmed by the spectacular fully-glassed hangar. It is so-called “the Green Cube” because of its greenish exterior. By retaining the unique sense of grandeur of this enormous structure, the space perfectly brings out the 12 massive installations including Xu Bing’s Tobacco Project, Huang Yongping’s Tower Snake, and Adel Abdessemed’s Telle mère tel fils.
As I wander among a crowd of international gallerists coming straight from Hong Kong Art Basel, the majority of the artists whose works are displayed, and VIP’ s flying from all over the world, the full meaning of the first show curated by Wu Hung entitled “ Myth / History” reaches another level as I overhear a conversation between the Budi Tek and the French Foreign Affairs Minister where the Museum founder explains his intent to build with this cultural endeavor platform to meet East and West.
Rumor says that Budi might open soon a third museum in Singapore… Lucky us!
The Yuz Museum Shanghai, located at the Xuhui Riverside, will mark its grand opening with the exhibition Myth / History: Yuz Collection of Contemporary Art, featuring many of the significant contemporary works in Mr. Budi Tek’s collection. Curator for this inaugural exhibition is Prof. Wu Huang, the world famous art critic and Professor at the University of Chicago. The exhibition runs through November 18, 2014. The museum’s opening date of May 18, 2014, also International Museum Day, was chosen as a gesture of support for international art and cultural activities as the YUZ foundation brings the fresh Chinese art scene to the people.
https://www.yuzmshanghai.org/?p=416
All images taken by Dominique Lévy
