![RAM building](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/RAM_building.jpg)
The Rockbund Art Museum (RAM, ) is a
contemporary art
Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
museum in central
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
.
The museum is on Huqiu Road, in the former
Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS), was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the en ...
building completed in 1933 near
The Bund
The Bund or Waitan (, Shanghainese romanization: ''Nga3thae1'', , ) is a waterfront area and a protected historical district in central Shanghai. The area centers on a section of Zhongshan Road (East Zhongshan Road No.1) within the former Shang ...
waterfront. The museum is dedicated to being an influential, innovative, sustainable organization devoted to the promotion of projects within the field of international contemporary art. There are no permanent collections. Featured Chinese artists have included
Cai Guo-Qiang and
Zeng Fanzhi.
History
Rockbund Art Museum is located in the peninsular headland where
Suzhou Creek flows into the
Huangpu River
The Huangpu (), formerly romanized as Whangpoo, is a river flowing north through Shanghai. The Bund and Lujiazui are located along the Huangpu River.
The Huangpu is the biggest river in central Shanghai, with the Suzhou Creek being its maj ...
, in an area now marketed as the "Source of the Bund" (''Waitanyuan''). The museum is housed in the former Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) building, which was also home to one of China's first modern museums, the previous
Shanghai Museum. Adjacent to the
Former Consulate-General of the United Kingdom, Shanghai
The Former Consulate-General of the United Kingdom (英国驻上海总领事馆) building located in Shanghai, China, is one of the oldest buildings on the Bund.
It is housed in a compound that housed a number of buildings used by the British C ...
, this neighborhood was one of the first settlements of foreign expatriates, and a centre of cultural and commercial prosperity.
Started in 1932, the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
RAS building was part of the history of 19th and 20th century
Sino
Sino as a prefix generally refers to:
* China
* Chinese people
* Two Chinas
* Culture of China
* History of China
Sino may also refer to:
* Sino Group, a property company in Hong Kong
* ''Sino'' (Café Tacuba album), the 7th studio album by M ...
-
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an cultural and academic exchange. At its height, this five-story building, which contained a lecture hall, a library, and a museum, received over 7,000 visits a month. Bringing together the functions of scholarly research, cultural exchange and public education under one roof, this structure was unique in Shanghai at the time.
During the half-century of its existence, the RAS Shanghai Museum had established collaborative relationships with museums internationally, including the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, the New York
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, and the
Musée Guimet
The Guimet Museum (full name in french: Musée national des arts asiatiques-Guimet; MNAAG; ) is an art museum located at 6, place d'Iéna in the XVIe arrondissement, 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. Literally translated into English, its ful ...
in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. Through its programmes, it contributed to scholarship in related disciplines, cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, and the dissemination of scientific knowledge in the community. Eventually it had become the largest center for
Oriental Studies
Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...
as well as an institution for public education.
In 1952, RAS closed its operation in China. At its request, its collections were transferred to the new Shanghai Municipal Services, which included 20,328 natural specimens, 6,663 historical artifacts and over 14,000 books and documents. They were then reallocated to
Shanghai Natural History Museum
The Shanghai Natural History Museum (; Shanghainese: Zånhae Zyzoe Pohvehguoe) is a museum dedicated to natural history in the city of Shanghai. It is one of the largest museums of natural sciences in China. Formerly housed in the Shanghai Cotto ...
, the new Shanghai Museum and the
Bibliotheca Zi-Ka-Wei
The Shanghai Library Bibliotheca Zi-Ka-Wei (, Shanghainese: ''Zånhae Dusyukuoe Zikawe Zånsyu Leu''), also known as the Bibliotheque de Mission, is the first modern library to be established in Shanghai, China. Located in the Xujiahui area in X ...
(the Xujiahui Library, a special collection of the
Shanghai Library
The Shanghai Library, which also houses the Shanghai Institute of Scientific and Technological Information, is the municipal library of Shanghai, China. It is the largest library in China. At 24 stories and 348 feet (106 m) tall, it is the second ...
), forming the core collection of the three institutions respectively.
Building
In 2005, the Shanghai Bund de Rockefeller Group Master Development Co. Ltd. obtained the right to develop the area. With consideration for its historical and cultural heritage, and as a form of contribution to the community, the developer decided to restore the RAS building, and to renovate it into a public museum for contemporary art.
The British architect
David Chipperfield
Sir David Alan Chipperfield, (born 18 December 1953) is an English architect. He established David Chipperfield Architects in 1985.
His major works include the River and Rowing Museum in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire (1989–1998); the Museum ...
,
who had previously directed the planning of the
Museum Island in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, was In charge of the task of restoration and design planning of the building in 2007, maintaining a
minimalist
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
style.
The building was originally designed by the British design firm
Palmer and Turner
P&T Group (), formerly known as Palmer and Turner Hong Kong (Chinese: 公和洋行; "Kung Wo Yeung Hong"), is an architectural firm in Hong Kong. It is one of the oldest architecture and engineering firms in the world, and it has designed many ...
. In highlighting a blend of Western architectural elements with Shanghai's cityscape, the firm incorporated traditional Chinese decorative elements in the building and created a unique hybrid architectural style. In an effort to retain the original flavour of the historical building, David Chipperfield chose to stay consistent to the original 1932 design in the building’s main exterior facade in the restoration.
To facilitate the functions of a modern
art museum
An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...
, the restoration, extended the building eastward, creating an open plaza on the ground floor, and a rooftop outdoor terrace on the eastern façade, the new parts echoing the old. At the same time, to meet the periodic changes necessary for modern art exhibitions, the designer made modifications to the existing space. The biggest renovation is in the skylight design that connects the upper three floors. For the interior colour scheme, the building's original precedent was followed, with light colours in the exhibition spaces with black steel and wooden furniture, providing a clean backdrop for exhibitions.
Transport
The nearest
Metro
Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to:
Geography
* Metro (city), a city in Indonesia
* A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center
Public transport
* Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urba ...
station is
East Nanjing Road Station on
Shanghai Metro Line 2
Line 2 is an east–west line in the Shanghai Metro network. With a length of nearly , it is the second longest line in the metro system after line 11. Line 2 runs from in the west to in the east, passing Hongqiao Airport, the Huangpu river, an ...
and
Line 10.
Exhibitions
* 2010: ''
Zeng Fanzhi''.
* 2014: ''
Bharti Kher
Bharti Kher is a contemporary artist. In a career spanning nearly three decades, she has worked across painting, sculpture and installation. Throughout her practice she has displayed an unwavering relationship with the body, its narratives, and ...
: Misdemeanours''.
* 2014: ''
Ugo Rondinone
Ugo Rondinone (born November 30, 1964) is a Swiss-born artist widely recognized for his mastery of several different media—most prominently sculpture, drawing and painting, but also photography, architecture, video and sound installation— ...
: Breathe Walk Die''.
* January 21, 2017 – June 4, 2017: ''
Song Dong
Song Dong (, born 1966) is a Chinese contemporary artist, active in sculpture, installations, performance, photography and video. He has been involved in many solo and group exhibitions around the world, covering a range of themes and topics inc ...
: I Don’t Know the Mandate of Heaven''
* July 8, 2017 – September 17, 2017: ''
Philippe Parreno
Philippe Parreno (born 1964 in Oran, Algeria) is a contemporary French artist who lives and works in Paris. His works include films, installations, performances, drawings, and text.
Parreno focuses on expanding ideas of time and duration thro ...
: Synchronicity.''
* September 29, 2017 – October 4, 2017: ''RAM HIGHLIGHT: DISPLACE''
* October 2017 – February 2018: ''Hugo Boss Asia Art 2017''
References
External links
*
{{Coord, 31.2430, N, 121.4843, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Art Deco architecture in Shanghai
Art museums and galleries in China
Buildings and structures completed in 1933
Contemporary art galleries in China
Museums in Shanghai
Museums with year of establishment missing