Chinese journal project showing at Rockbund Art Museum

Caption: Artist Hu Yun has a solo exhibition on the 4th and 5th floors of the museum.

The Rockbund Art Museum has launched a special program called "Complex Geographies: China Journal."

The program starts with a series of exhibitions and public events that engage with the museum's historical architecture.

The Rockbund Art Museum's iconic building, built in 1933, was the first purpose-built museum in China. It was originally designed for the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, founded in 1857 by British and American expatriates. This society, with its commitment to the scholarly exploration and dissemination of knowledge about China and its neighboring regions through expeditions, journals, a library, and a museum, provides a rich context for the project's unfolding narrative.

Through a trio of distinct yet interconnected exhibitions and public programs, "Complex Geographies: China Journal" invites artists, writers, and local communities to re-imagine the historical functions of the R.A.S. building: an auditorium on the second floor, a library on the third, and museum spaces on the fourth and fifth floors.

"Hu Yun: Mount Analogue" is showing on the 4th and 5th floors at the museum.

The Shanghai-born artist is known for his unique ability to weave together personal and historical events from different times and locations to create complex narratives that demonstrate the contradictions of the established historical narrative.

For example, in his painting series "Palm," he chooses palm leaves as his subject matter. Hu's interest in palms does not derive from botany but from the intricate colonial contexts and histories associated with the plant. As a trophy of imperial colonization, the palm as a tropical plant is frequently seen in museums, monochrome photos, and book illustrations, and has been widely propagated and cultivated in the context of globalization.

Caption: Shanghai-based artist Zhang Ruyi created "Shanghai Palimpsest: Restaging the R.A.S. Library."

In a homage to the architectural heritage of the building, the exhibition also reflects the historical significance of RAM's third-floor space by commissioning Shanghai-based artist Zhang Ruyi to transform it into a new library. "Shanghai Palimpsest: Re-staging the R.A.S. Library" is an archive-based exhibition that explores the Royal Asiatic Society and its influential figures, such as Arthur de Carle Sowerby, naturalist and R.A.S. museum director; and Florence Ayscough, sinologist and R.A.S. librarian. The exhibition acts as a prism through which knowledge production, identity formation, and the multifaceted socio-cultural landscape of the bustling metropolis are refracted.