Wang Nanming Named Director of Shanghai Himalayas Museum

On June 25, the Shanghai Himalayas Museum announced that Wang Nanming, a leading artist and critic who specializes in interdisciplinary practices and studies, has been appointed as the new director of the institution, succeeding Yongwoo Lee. Established by Shanghai Zendai Group in 2005, the Shanghai Himalayas Museum (formerly known as Shanghai Zendai MoMA) focuses on furthering the development of art and cultivates in-depth cultural interactions, with the ultimate goal of making art more accessible to the general public. The museum’s latest project is the Shanghai Project, which kicked off its second chapter this year.

To shape the upcoming programming of the Shanghai Himalayas Museums, Wang will re-examine the ideological context between contemporary art and traditional art. In particular, he will initiate the “Young Thinker Residency” program to encourage self-reflexivity among young artists. Looking outward with the aim of bringing a broader community into the fold, Wang will strengthen the museum’s interaction with the public by expanding collaborations with higher education organizations and re-establishing the curatorial system in the museum, which will generate a research-led program driven by independent curators, critics and researchers of various backgrounds.

Between 2007 and 2009, Wang was the editor-in-chief of the art magazines Art Focus and Art Time, where he energized art criticism in the Chinese art scene. He also supervised graduate dissertations on art systems and law at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and established new courses for the institute to shape a new generation of Chinese art critics. Since 2015, Wang has initiated and co-curated the four-phase exhibition program “Current: Contemporary Art from Scotland,” the first major showcase of contemporary art from Scotland in China. Wang is the author of numerous publications, including Understanding Modern Calligraphy: Artistic Transformation of Modern and Avant-Garde (1994), Art Must Die: from Chinese Painting to Modern Ink Painting (2006), and Modern Art and Avant-garde: Interface of Clement Greenberg’s Critical Theory (2012). Wang’s artworks are in the collections of the British Museum in London, Guangzhou’s Annie Wong Art Foundation and the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

Jia Dong is an editorial intern at ArtAsiaPacific.

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