Private museums struggle for visitors

Beijing Minsheng Art Museum, one of the country's largest private museums, is open to the public with its inaugural show The Civil Power. [Photo by Deng Zhangyu/China Daily]

The Beijing branch of the Mingsheng Art Museum and the Contemporary Art Terminal opened with a large-scale inaugural exhibition featuring contemporary art.

China has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of private museums and art galleries over the past five years. The country’s 456 private museums, 13 percent of the nation’s total, play an important role in China’s cultural life.

Experts says China is focused on opening more museums while the problem of setting up diversified exhibition programs and finding an audience is delayed.

According to Xie Suzhen, head of Today Art Museum and art director of the Museum of Contemporary Art Yinchuan, funding is not the main restriction in the development of private museums. Instead, they need to find their own position, adjust strategies and struggle for more visitors.

“There are hundreds of private art museums in China, but what’s the difference between their positions and destinations? If all museums point to contemporary art, it will be really senseless. Similarity slows down the development of private museums. The main difficulty is a lack of visitors,” Xie said.

Chinese art critic Lv Peng also pointed out that the increase in private contemporary art museums helps to popularize art and boost academic exchanges, but what to do next for these museums is the most pivotal step.

“The establishment of these private museums brings more people into contact with contemporary art. However, there are too many works in the museums, instead of things like academic introduction of contemporary art. Variety is what we lack,” Lv said.