SCMP - Hong Kong
Bosses from the V&A say Design Society, in collaboration with China Merchants Shekou Holdings, will put roots down for the London museum’s long-standing relationship with China
VIVIENNE.CHOW@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Sunday, 15 May, 2016, 11:35pm
The Design Society, under construction at Sea World Culture and Art Centre. Photo: Victoria and Albert Museum
London’s Victoria and Albert Museum is establishing its first Asian outpost in southern China and is looking to collaborate with, not rival, Hong Kong’s new M+ museum at the West Kowloon Cultural District.
The leading British institution said the move was not to attract a rising class of art collectors from the mainland to become patrons or philanthropists of the museum, despite funding cuts.
Tim Reeve, deputy director and chief operating officer of the V&A, said the Design Society, in collaboration with China Merchants Shekou Holdings, would lay roots for the London museum’s long-standing relationship with China.
“This is an opportunity to embed ourselves in a community for a period of time and to really get to know the design and creative communities in Shenzhen,” Reeve said.
The Design Society is a cultural hub in the Shekou Sea World Culture and Arts Centre, part of Sea World’s coastal city complex in Shekou in- Shenzhen. The centre has 71,000 sq ft of floor space. The V&A is on board as a founding partner.
The Design Society will feature a design museum, where a V&A Gallery will be set up, dedicated to 20th- and 21st-century international design. There will also be a multi-purpose hall, a theatre and the Shenzhen Guanfu Museum. The location of the Design Society rides on a recent boom in creative communities in Shenzhen.
Reeve said that since the museum was founded in 1852, it was among the earliest in the world to collect exhibits from China, and already had about 17,000.
The V&A has been presenting major exhibitions on Chinese arts and culture. It is presenting China Design Now, the first exhibition in Britain to touch on design in China.
Design plays an important element in M+, the visual culture museum to open in West Kowloon in 2019. Reeve said despite the close physical proximity between M+ and the V&A Gallery, he saw the West Kowloon museum being a partner and collaborator instead of a rival.
“There are elements of competition but the opportunity of collaboration is much stronger. I’m sure in due course the V&A and M+ will work together,” Reeve said.
Asked if this could include loans of collections or joint exhibitions, Reeve said: “I think it’s all possible. We are always open to discussions.”
Despite the rise of affluent Chinese collectors in the art world, Reeve said he did not see the V&A’s China presence translating into new funding just yet. This was despite government spending on the museum going down from about 65 per cent of its budget 10 years ago to the current 50 per cent.
“For the time being we hope to get the V&A collections, idea and brand to the biggest audience possible,” he said.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1945543/vas-shenzhen-hub-nota-rival-hong-kongs-m
