A Private Museum in China Abruptly Closes Its Doors After Guangzhou Authorities Gave It a 3-Day Demolition Notice

The privately funded Redtory Museum of Contemporary Art in
Guangzhou, China, abruptly shut down last week after it was given
three days to vacate its premises in anticipation of demolition of
the surrounding arts district, known as the Redtory Art + Design
Factory.

The museum said the evacuation notice came after a long period
of disputes with local authorities, according to The Art
Newspaper, which first reported the news. The museum posted
its three-day notice to the social media platform WeChat last
Wednesday and noted that it never sought financial support or
“policy preference” from authorities.

“We expected that they would understand and appreciate the scale
of the efforts made by various cultural and art organizations in
the Redtory art district,” the post read. The museum said the
government’s “lack of vision” was “deeply disquieting.”

New business towers are purportedly planned for the larger
district, known as the Tianhe District. “As the wreckers machinery
moves in, and the past dissolves before our eyes, do does our
efforts,” the museum said in its post. Redtory representatives did
not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The museum was founded in 2009 on the site of a former canned
food factory. The museum stages a range of modern and contemporary
art and design exhibitions. “RMCA blends the ideas in contemporary
art and modern design, listens to the voice during the
development process of modern art, carries out the
trans-regional fields with visual appearance of modern art
and assumes the social responsibilities for extending the art
to design and life,” its website says.

The museum’s building was one of the few surviving
Constructivist-style factories from the early history of the
People’s Republic of China, according to the Art
Newspaper. In 2017-18, Redtory hosted a show of work by video
artist Bill Viola.

The post A Private Museum in China Abruptly Closes Its Doors
After Guangzhou Authorities Gave It a 3-Day Demolition Notice
appeared first on artnet News.