Britain's Tate Modern to help develop Shanghai's new art museum

Britain's national museum of modern and contemporary art Tate Modern announced partnership with a leading Shanghai enterprise Tuesday to jointly develop a new art museum in Pudong district.

Tate and Shanghai Lujiazui Group signed a memorandum of understanding, as part of the development of Shanghai's Pudong Museum of Art (PMoA) which was designed by award-winning French architect Atelier Jean Nouvel and is scheduled to be completed in early 2021.

According to the MoU, Tate will provide PMoA with training and expertise in a number of fields as well as an inaugural exhibition drawn from Tate's collection. This will be followed by two more exhibitions at PMoA which will bring further works from Tate's national collection to audiences in China.

Tate will also provide expertise in areas such as visitor services, operations, art handling and exhibition management, audience development, and learning. The two sides aim to maintain a long-term strategic partnership.

Zhu Di, general director of art department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, said: "We are delighted to have Tate as a consultant to the Pudong Museum of Art and to be signing the MoU. Civilizations are enriched through learning from each other. When it opens, the PMoA will be a stage for dialogue through art, between China and other countries."

"It intends to become a major contributor to cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and other countries. We very much look forward to co-operating with Tate and, we hope, other leading museums from around the world as we build a new outward-facing art museum in the open, innovative and inclusive global city of Shanghai. We want to contribute to the promotion of cultural exchange worldwide, and the communication between the East and the West, " Zhu noted.

Kerstin Mogull, managing director of Tate, commented: "We recognise and admire the ambition behind this new public art institution and are excited to be working with the Pudong Museum of Art to advise them on their historic journey towards the opening in 2021 and beyond."

Mogull added, "This is an internationally significant project to establish a major new art museum in one of the world's most exciting, dynamic and populous cities. Tate's best ever attended exhibition was held in Shanghai last year so we are keen to deepen our engagement with audiences there. We are delighted to have the opportunity to lend our expertise and experience to assist Lujiazui in that goal over the course of the next three years."

Pudong Museum of Art is located in Lujiazui Central Business District in Shanghai and its construction started in September 2017. Regarded as a major cultural project in Pudong, the museum aims to establish itself as an international cultural landmark for Shanghai and an important platform for global cultural and art communication.