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On March 28, it was announced that Yuz Museum (Yuz) will be partnering with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to launch a series of shared programs. The announcement was made by Budi Tek, Indonesian-Chinese collector and founder of the Shanghainese institution, via a video call at a panel discussion hosted by Art Agency in Hong Kong. Spearheaded by art historian Wu Hung, the programs will include exhibitions, the first of which is due to kick off in spring of 2019 at a yet-to-be-confirmed venue. The two institutions are also in discussions about setting up a joint foundation, to which Tek would donate his collection of more than 1,500 artworks. The body of works, which Tek first began to build in 2004, encompasses pieces by renowned Chinese artists such as Ding Yi and Zeng Fanzhi, as well as large-scale installations by Xu Bing, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Adel Abdessemed, Camille Henrot and Maurizio Cattelan, among others.
Details about the name and governance of the foundation are yet to be confirmed, although Tek hopes to appoint members of his family to the board. The plan also entails changing the legal status of Yuz, which is currently run on a not-for-profit basis, but is owned by a limited company. Yuz would be separated from Tek’s personal estate, and the ownership of the museum transferred to a foundation overseen by a board of trustees.
Negotiations between Yuz and LACMA first began two-and-a-half years ago, when Tek was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The increasing seriousness of his illness expedited the discussions. “I am concerned about the collection; part of my legacy involves preserving the holdings I’ve built up over the past 15 years. There is a time pressure; I needed to make a speedy decision that was right,” he said.
An agreement between the two parties was reached in December 2017, although the deal will only be officially formalized in the third quarter of 2018. Yuz Museum and LACMA most recently collaborated to present the exhibition “Is Film Over?” by Los Angeles-based filmmaker Jennifer West in March 2017.
The news comes just a day after LACMA announced that collectors Gérard and Dora Cognié will be gifting the museum with their collection of contemporary Chinese and global ink-related art.
Chloe Chu is the associate editor of ArtAsiaPacific.
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