Ming returns home
After a 12 month long US tour with stops in San Francisco, Indianapolis, and St. Louis, Power and Glory: Court Arts of China’s Ming Dynasty, has finally returned home to China. This is the end of a project that I have worked on for more than three years.
The last leg of this journey started in Chicago at O’Hare airport where I oversaw the loading of 25 crates of objects onto a plane bound for Beijing. The crates had come to Chicago from their last exhibition venue in St. Louis.
A mere 13 1/2 hours later I was busy watching those same crates transfer to a cargo warehouse where they were loaded onto two trucks headed for the Forbidden City. This is the first stop for the objects, some of which will continue on to Shanghai and Nanjing.
It is hot and smoggy in Beijing, a sharp contrast to my previous winter trip. This is the third year in a row that I have made this same three city tour. I first came in 2007 to inspect the objects and plan their transportation, and returned in 2008 to oversee packing and to accompany the crates to the United States. Each time there is something new to discover.
Like how did they figure out a way to keeep a huge square in the center of the hotel bathroom mirror from fogging up? Does everyone working at the Palace Museum need to wear face masks? (The answer is yes). I saw a new restaurant that I did not see last year: Subway sandwiches.
I’m sure that I will discover more changes over the coming weeks, as I say a fond goodbye to Power and Glory.
10 Responses to “Ming returns home”
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xensen on June 3rd, 2009 at 9:37 am
Nice to see this Ming wrap-up.
cristina on June 3rd, 2009 at 10:45 am
I know. Although we may may have an exhibition up in the galleries for a few months, the entire process of creating an exhibition is in fact much much longer. Ming has been going on in the background for a long time — It’s nice to have this sort of closure.
bittermelon on June 3rd, 2009 at 11:14 am
This is a great mini-report, thanks for sharing Sharon! The photos are great, and I enjoy your musings on China. Wish I could go back. Hope you share more!
Shalom on June 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Ming was an AMAZING exhibition. I enjoyed reading about its journey home.
What project will you be working on next, now that Ming has wrapped?
cristina on June 5th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Hi Shalom – Sharon is tied up in Nanjing right now, so I thought I’d chime in for her. Because of the long lead time on exhibitions, we usually have several in different stages of production. When Sharon returns she will largely be working on “Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance” for 2011. The registration department is also working on “Shanghai” for 2010, and “Emerald Cities: Arts of Siam and Burma” for this fall. We’ll be posting plenty of new stuff as we get closer to these exhibitions.
star1soul on June 30th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Do you represent all Asian cultures equally. Or do you concentrate on Japanese culture.
Beautiful site…
Thank you,
Tommy
xensen on June 30th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Thank you, Tommy. We try to concentrate more or less equally on the various Asian cultures. It might look right now like we have a heavy emphasis on Japan, but that is because our blog is only a couple of months old, and we currently have a Japanese show on view, so we are posting a lot about that. In the fall we have a Southeast Asian show, and one from China in the spring. Eventually the blog content will even out.
angie on August 4th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I’m fascinated by the elegance of ancient Chinese clothing, which was the inspiration for kimonos and hanboks. Any possibility of exhibitions for pre-Manchu costumes? I’d also like to see a show about Empress Wu, poets of the Tang Dynasty, and other notable personalities of ancient China.
nico on August 10th, 2009 at 12:56 am
good point, angie–have you read T.H. Barrett’s book on Empress Wu?
mario on October 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 pm
“how did they figure out a way to keeep a huge square in the center of the hotel bathroom mirror from fogging up?”
I might have an answer to this mystery: they managed to heat a square in the center of the mirror (using heating wires). And they’ve left the rest of the mirror without heating to have the guests to talk about how China is a mysterious place.
Really, this is an artistic choice, and I am happy to hear about it. It shows how serious China is to use every opportunity to leave a lasting impression on its visitors.
This detail is really original.