Curating the Christian Arts of Asia

IF 0.2 1区艺术学 0 ART

ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART Pub Date : 2020-10-01 DOI:10.1215/00666637-8620357

S. A. Meegama

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Abstract

This essay examines the transformation of the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) into a global art histories museum. An analysis of the new Christian Art Gallery and its objects that date from the eighth through the twentieth century illuminates the ways in which the ACM engages with global art histories in a permanent gallery and not only through special exhibitions. This essay begins with a history of the ACM and its transition from a museum for the “ancestral cultures of Singapore” to one with a new mission focusing on multicultural Singapore and its connections to the wider world. Hence, taking a thematic approach, the ACM's new galleries question how museums generally display objects along national lines or regional boundaries. This essay also brings attention to the multiple mediums and functions of Christian art from both the geographical locations that usually are associated with Asian art and also from cultures that are rarely taught or exhibited, such as Timor-Leste, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. While showcasing the different moments that Christianity came to Asia, the museum also emphasizes the agencies of Asian artistic practitioners in those global encounters. Although appreciative of the ways in which the ACM's Christian Art Gallery reveal the various tensions within global art histories and break down hegemonic constructions of Christian art from Asia, this essay also offers a critique. Highlighting this unusual engagement with Christian art by an Asian art museum, the new gallery reveals that museums and exhibitions can add to the conversations on global art histories.

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策划亚洲基督教艺术

本文考察了亚洲文明博物馆(ACM)向全球艺术史博物馆的转型。对新基督教艺术画廊及其从八世纪到二十世纪的物品的分析，阐明了ACM在永久画廊中参与全球艺术史的方式，而不仅仅是通过特别展览。这篇文章从ACM的历史开始，从一个“新加坡祖先文化”的博物馆转变为一个新的使命，专注于多元文化的新加坡及其与更广阔的世界的联系。因此，采用主题方法，ACM的新画廊质疑博物馆通常如何沿国家或地区边界展示物品。本文还从通常与亚洲艺术相关的地理位置以及很少教授或展出的文化(如东帝汶、菲律宾、斯里兰卡和越南)中关注基督教艺术的多种媒介和功能。在展示基督教传入亚洲的不同时刻的同时，博物馆也强调了亚洲艺术从业者在这些全球接触中的代理。虽然欣赏ACM的基督教艺术画廊揭示全球艺术史中的各种紧张关系和打破亚洲基督教艺术的霸权结构的方式，但本文也提出了批评。新画廊突出了亚洲艺术博物馆与基督教艺术的不同寻常的接触，揭示了博物馆和展览可以增加对全球艺术史的讨论。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

ARCHIVES OF ASIAN ART Multiple-

CiteScore

0.40

自引率

20.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Since its establishment in 1945, Archives of Asian Art has been devoted to publishing new scholarship on the art and architecture of South, Southeast, Central, and East Asia. Articles discuss premodern and contemporary visual arts, archaeology, architecture, and the history of collecting. To maintain a balanced representation of regions and types of art and to present a variety of scholarly perspectives, the editors encourage submissions in all areas of study related to Asian art and architecture. Every issue is fully illustrated (with color plates in the online version), and each fall issue includes an illustrated compendium of recent acquisitions of Asian art by leading museums and collections. Archives of Asian Art is a publication of Asia Society.