Modern art, ancient setting

A new contemporary art museum nestled snugly against the walls of the Forbidden City? Sounds too good to be true, especially when coupled with an innovative curatorial vision at odds with the art scene's prevailing commercial ethos, writes Dan Edwards.

A new contemporary art museum nestled snugly against the walls of the Forbidden City? Sounds too good to be true, especially when coupled with an innovative curatorial vision at odds with the art scene's prevailing commercial ethos, writes Dan Edwards.

The new contemporary wing of the Beijing Art Museum of the Imperial City (BAMOIC) was unveiled in January with an exhibition of stunning black and white landscape photography from renowned Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. Well known as a director of cinematic masterpieces such as A Taste of Cherry, The Wind Will Carry Us and Ten, Kiarostami's photographs are every bit as poetic, meditative and complex as his films. The man himself was at the opening, inscribing a few lines of poetry on the museum's pristine white walls.

We're trying to influence people to have a new way of looking at things, 'says Shi Li-Sanderson, BAMOIC's international curator. Armed with aknowledge of art accrued through six years of working and studying in Japan and the UK, Shi is pursuing aneclectic, internationalised curatorial philosophy. ‘I think Chinese people are very much occupied with a Western idea of contemporary art. I want to show something from outside Europe- from places like the Middle East, India and Africa.'

Alongside established masters, BAMOIC plans to exhibit emerging talent from China and around the globe. A solo exhibition by Francebased Chinese painter Tian Ye wason show in March, and Through The Lens will showcase photography, video and multi-media work from the emerald Isle as part of the Irish Cultural Festival (until April 6). In Juneand July BAMOIC will play the role of satellite venue to a major exhibition of new media work at the National Art Museum of China.

 So why has nobody heard of BAMOIC until now? Opened by local authorities in June 2003, the museum originally held a small, rarely visited collection of arte facts from the Forbidden City. In November last year, private firm Zenith Culture International took over and immediately set about reinvigorating the space. Their first move was to introduce the contemporary wing, but their vision also extended to a revitalisation of the museum's traditional section. ‘We want to offer a combined taste of old and new,' says Shi. ‘Not to show traditional art as something old and dead, but to see it in a new way, alongside contemporary work.'

In addition to a multi-media displayon the Forbidden City being installed later this year, the museum will host travelling exhibitions of traditional work from around the world. The programme kicks off with a collection from ancient Greece in April.

With book readings and CD launches adding spice to the mix, BAMOIC is seeking to build a regular local audience and become firmly entrenched in Beijing's cultural landscape. But an important symbol of the new team's open approach is already in place. The final room of the contemporary wing holds a huge blackboard, which visitors are free to scrawl on. The board's fascinating cornucopia of drawings, slogans and comments is almost as engrossing as the museum's art, and is emblematic of the ideals Shi and the Zenith team are trying to realise. ‘We've found people have dialogues - today this person writes something, then another comes along and responds. It's amazing - people don't know each other, yet you have this communication between them.' Beijing Art Museum of the Imperial City, 9 Changpu Heyan, Nanchizi Dajie,Dongcheng district

(tel 6523 9146;http://bamoic.info/). 东城区南池子大街菖蒲河沿9号