Myth/History: Yuz Collection of Contemporary Art

The end of the year 2012 witnessed the opening of Long Museum Pudong, inaugurated with its opening exhibition “Through All Ages”. On March 28th, 2014, Long Museum West Bund will be officially open to the public, thereby establishing a unique ecosystem of art – “One City, Two Museums.”

For the opening exhibition, Long Museum has invited Mr. Wang Huangsheng to be the chief curator and Cao Qinghui and Guo Xiaoyan as co-curators. Taking the lineages in art history as the thread and leveraging the features of Long Museum collection, we proudly present “Re-View: Opening Exhibition of Long Museum West Bund” in three sections: “Ancient / Contemporary,” “Chinese Paintings / Western Paintings,” and “Cases / History.” The exhibition will show more than 300 artworks by over 200 artists, covering contemporary, modern, and traditional Chinese art.

Contemporary art refers to the art of the “current” age. How contemporary art converses with, extends, and transcends ancient art and the past becomes the entry point of the opening exhibition and the layout of Long Museum West Bund. As an old saying goes, “we shall usher in the current times by deriving from our ancient heritage” (jiegukaijin): to create new ideas based on old traditions. But our starting point is to create, explore, and experiment at the very present times, as we shall relate to, converse with, challenge, and surpass history. The exhibition tries to narrate “history” and expound “views” by creating a structure of contrasts: stating “views” with “history” as the thread and integrating “views” into “history.” We take the exhibition as an opportunity to offer a perspective for interpreting the art history that exists and is taking place, as well as a context in which the status quo and the future of contemporary art can be reviewed (Quotes by Wang Huangsheng).