On January 16, 2015, “The 2nd CAFAM Future Exhibition” series of academic activities–the First “University and Art Museum” Forum opened at CAFA Art Museum. The forum was divided into 3 sections, to respectively discuss 3 topics: the “The Spirit of the Universityand the Future”, “The Art Museum and Young Culture” and “The Passive and Active: Effective Knowledge Production. ”

The Spirit of the University and the Future

At 9:30 am on January 16, 2015, the first section of “The 2nd CAFAM Future Exhibition” series of academic activities the First “University and Art Museum” Forum – “The Spirit of the Universityand the Future” was held in the Auditorium of CAFA Art Museum, and it was presided over by Wang Huangsheng, Director of CAFA Art Museum, Yang Jingsong, Executive Director of MCACAA, Pan Li, Director of the Museum of Communication, University of China and Cai Jingsong, Director of Art Museum of Beihang University gave a keynote speech, and communicated with the honored guests present at the forum.

Before the forum officially started, Fan Di’an, President of CAFA initially addressed, and stressed that the task of the university art museum was no longer just classifying and describing the collections, it was necessary that today’s university art museum unfolded the new knowledge production, paying attention toyouths while looking to the future. It was one of the reasons for the holding of “CAFAM Future Exhibition”.

Director Wang Huangsheng said that the significance of this forum was in thinking about the function of the university art museum, the relationship between university and art museum, while carrying forward and advocating the spirit of the university which was the starting point of the forum, and he also reaffirmed the task of knowledge productionas put forward by President Fan Di’an.

Yang Jingsong, Executive Director of MCACAA combined his practical work to speak of the role of current art museumsand also expressed the reality that predicaments faced with the university art museum, and he hoped to get rid of the passive auxiliary teaching status of the university art museum,which had a greater social effect.Then, Pan Li, Director of the Museum of Communication University of China gave a speech entitled “Carrying Forward the University Spirit, Leading the Development of the Times”to expoundthe connotation of the university spirit. Finally, Cai Jingsong, Director of the Art Museum of Beihang University gave a keynote speech, he believed that the university art museum was in a special temperament and offered a lasting appeal with the spirit of the university. The culture is attributed to the university which was fully present on such a platform.

After the end of the keynote speech, Director Wang Huangsheng briefed the audience on the work experiences of CAFA Art Museum, including the establishment of a brand, the integration of campus resources, research work, large-scale exhibitions and public education activities, etc., and he also stressed CAFA Art Museum has recently focused on the exhibition of young artists. In the communication section at the end of the discussion, Li Xiaoshan, Director of Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts, Wang Yigang, Director of the Art Museum of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts, Hang Jian, Director of MCACCA, Wang Jian, Director of Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Yang Yingshi, Director of the Department of Public Education at the National Art Museum of China and GuoXiaoyan, Deputy Director of Minsheng Art Museum in Beijing respectively gave a speech.

The Art Museum and Young Culture

At 14:00 on January 16, 2015, the 2nd section of “The 2nd CAFAM Future Exhibition” series of academic activities “Thoughts and the Future – University and Art Museum” Forum – “The Art Museum and Young Culture” was held in the VIP room of CAFA Art Museum. It was a continuation of the discussion of “the Spirit of the University” in the morning, and discussed the cultural characteristics of youths under the identity function of the art museum as well as the significance to the development of the art museum in the future. Hang Jian, Director of MCACCA presided over the discussion, Wang Chunchen, Director of the Academic Department of CAFA Art Museum, the curator of the 2nd CAFAM Future Exhibition, Sheng Wei, deputy Editor-in-Chief of the “Art” magazine, the curator of the 2nd CAFAM Future Exhibition, Wang Jian, Director of the Art Museum of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts respectively gave a keynote speech.

Wang Chunchen said the art museum was the place art occurred, new art was always trying to break the original artistic patterns, this was thestrongpioneer which corresponded with thecultural innovation and the sensitive cultural character of youths.

Sheng Wei gave a speech themed “From the ‘Past’ to the ‘Future’ – The Time and Space, Politics of the Art Museum”, he focused on the art museum “redefined” art in the development of the time and space as well as the relationship with young art.

Wang Jian emphasized the research in art museum activities, once it was researched, there was a promptand people could see the future direction of the art and how far it could go only from the perspective of the art museum. At the same time he suggested expanding the research with new media communication channels such as networks.

After the end of keynote speech, Wang Huangsheng introduced the investment of CAFA Art Museum in terms of media communication, and put forward that currently social media was not only the means for propaganda and dissemination, it was also a production mechanism, such as “Cooperation Commune”. At the same time, Li Guanghui, Director of the Art Museum of the School of Arts, Renmin University of China proposed a crisis consciousness of the network environment, like the online store, ecommerce has challenged the physical store.

The Passive and Active: Effective Knowledge Production

At 4:00 pm on January 16, 2015, the 3rd section of “Thought and Future - University and the Art Museum” Forum - “The Passive and Active: Effective Knowledge Production” was held at the VIP room of CAFA Art Museum. Li Xiaoshan, Director of the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts presided over the discussion, Zhang Zikang, Deputy Director of the National Art Museum of China, Chu Teh-I, Director of Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts at Taipei National University of the Arts, Wang Yigang, Director of the Art Museum of Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts respectively gave a keynote speech.

At the beginning, Li Xiaoshan responded to the morning discussion entitled “The Spirit of the University and the Future”, he said it was spirit of the university was limited in present day China, China was short of elite groups and CAFA Art Museum tried to build the elite with certain activities. Zhang Zikang thought an art museum should first find its position, creating valuable knowledge which grew within society. Chu Teh-I took the practical experiences of Kuandu Museum of Fine Arts as an example, to expound knowledge production of the exhibition as well as using the exhibition to connect with the network association between Taiwan and the world.

Wang Yigang said the art museum was the place to output knowledge, with the social education function, so the art museum should consider participation with the public and how they can participate with it. With reference to the embarrassing situation proposed by Wang Yigang, Li Xiaoshan shared the practice of the Art Museum of Nanjing University of the Arts. Li Xiaoshan also said, people focused on building the value of the art museum at present, but it was more important to establish the evaluation system of academic research.

Text by Zhang Chi, Zhang Wenzhi/CAFA ART INFO

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Photo by Zhang Wenzhi, CAFAM•DongHuiping/ Chen Yushu/Quan Jing