The famous Guangdong Times Museum has re-opened in Guangzhou, China, 18 months after suspending exhibitions in October 2022. The suspension was due to the financial struggles of the museum’s sponsor, the Times China real estate developer. The gallery opened in the 2010 exhibition space, designed by Rem Koolhaas and Alain Fouraux, following a successful auction in January of works donated by 65 artists, mostly from or living in the Pearl River Delta region.
Marge Monko’s Flawless (2016), on display at the Guangdong Times Museum Photo: Martin Polák
Associate director and chief curator Nikita Yingqian Cai, who has been on staff throughout the hiatus, says the museum will follow a “sustainability model” in the future, cultivating a range of donors rather than relying on a single sponsor as it did in the past. . Compared to Beijing and Shanghai, collectors in southern China are more institutionally oriented, he says. Guangzhou’s influential Canton Gallery has also reopened after a temporary pandemic-related closure.
Now operating on a quarter of its previous budget, the Times Museum has reduced its curatorial staff from 18 to three and is working with several guest curators. Cai says that popular programs from the past, such as the Social Practice Lab and the Media Lab, will not be returning at this stage.
The reunion exhibition is a show curated by the artist Qu Chang. Follow the Feeling (until June 23) It is named after a song by Taiwanese singer Julie Sue (aka Su Rui) who became popular in mainland China in early 1989, embodying that hopeful moment. The program will continue in July with a photography show organized by He Yining, Tan Yue’s exhibition on the Indo-Pacific Islands in October, and a solo exhibition by Beijing painter and entertainer Sun Xun.
