At 1:00 pm on August 27, 2015, a seminar on “Future Gallery” was held at the 5th Floor of Exhibition Hall of Building 1, Today Art Museum. Director of Today Art Museum Alex Gao Peng, the sculptor Sui Jianguo, the architect Wang Hui, the academic moderator Huang Du, the curator Su Lei, the critic He Guiyan, participating artists Miao Xiaochun, Suzanne Anker, Hu Renyi, Lin Ke, etc., attended the seminar, gave a speech and discussed the topics of what the “Future Gallery” will be, the future of “Future Gallery”, etc.

In the seminar, He Guiyan proposed that the Future Gallery should be built on the basis of the description of the media, science and technology, as the boundary of work expanded, the concept of audience would also change. The artists from the United States, Suzanne Anker introduced the application of biotechnology in the field of art, the decomposition of known substances and restructuring the new form for the products in new material, while there was not any correct form, for example, two DNAs which are composed of the same DNA code, would also have different shapes. In addition, she thought that the museum was the storage of history, so in this sense, the museum did not have a future. US-based artist Hu Renyi combined his experience in the United States and said that new media was sidelined in the Western art museums, because the new media was a means to break the inherent mode and rule of capitalism. He thought that the real artistic state could not be placed in art museums. The curator Su Lei suggested changing logic to a form, changing programming to a presentational form, which was a new field that was different from the traditional aesthetic. In order to build a discourse, Western art museums have a clear division of labor for each department, and its development is also restrained, while China is in the process of development, short of a wholesome system in the museum, which also gives a contained feeling to the art museums of China, and it also has a lot of possibilities in the future. Finally, Wang Du summarized that the exhibition was one of the most experimental exhibitions, trying to build a new indicator for art museums. “Future Gallery” focuses on the imagination and technology of the artist, and aims to inspire the imagination of people.

The opening exhibition "Imaginary Future" began on the 27th August 2015 at the 2nd Floor of Exhibition Hall of Building 1, Today Art Museum, marking the launch of the Future Gallery project. The Future Gallery is dedicated to the exploration of the most avant-garde and future-oriented spatial concept of art museums. It has won much attention from the art scene. The co-founders of the project, Director of Today Art Museum Alex Gao Peng, the sculpture artist Sui Jianguo and the architect Wang Hui, as well as the academic moderator Huang Du, curator Su Lei introduced the concept and background of the exhibition to the media and audience from their respective perspectives. Present at the opening ceremony were also exhibiting artists Miao Chunxiao, Suzanne Anker, Hu Renyi, Lin Ke, Huang Ying, etc. Huang Ying's work is a large new media installation integrated in the new Mondeo of Chang'an Ford, demonstrating the merging of art and technology. While the virtual art museum director section offers an enhanced interactive experience to the audience, thanks to the technology of a new Real Sense 3D Camera used in the ThinkPad S5 Yoga.

Future Gallery of Today Art Museum consists of three parts: the physical exhibition, the virtual exhibition and the third party display with AR (augmented reality) technology. The exhibition takes a localized viewpoint of the viewer and presents its contemplation on our new living environment of an internet-based society. The 12 exhibiting artists present two sets of works for display, one for the physical exhibition while another for the virtual display. The real and the virtual displays are echo and complement each other. It is a novel experience for the audience. The works of Sui Jianguo and Miao Xiaochun utilize the AR technology, which elevates these works to a higher level and presents a fascinating fusion of reality and virtual. Future Gallery of Today Art Museum is a new conceptual art museum in the cloud. This project makes a great leap forward in both technology and artistic concepts on the basis of 360 degree panorama exhibition and online display of digitized art works. In this cloud space there will be tens of thousands of exhibitions. Each exhibition exists as a dot. Each dot is a totally new cubic space and contains art works that are impossible to be accommodated in any physical space. The Future Gallery is a self-organized and growing co-existing cultural system. It might even be called a new black hole in art.

Besides the exhibition at Today Art Museum, the Future Gallery extends to many more peripheral events. You will see the Future Gallery at the Davos World Economic Forum in September and the Beijing Design Week between September and October 2015. The exhibition at Today Art Museum will last until the 12th September.

About the Exhibition:

Opening Exhibition of the Future Gallery of Beijing Today Art Museum: Imaginary Future

Co-founders: Gao Peng, Wang Hui, Sui Jianguo

Academic Moderator: Huang Du

Curator: Su Lei

Exhibiting Artists: Sui Jianguo, Miao Xiaochun, Suzanne Anker, Zhang Xiaotao, Zhou Wendou, Hu Renyi, Ye Funa, Xu Wenkai, Lin Ke, Chen Tianzhuo, Tian Xiaolei and Huang Ying

Duration: August 27 – September 12, 2015

Venue: 2/F, Exhibition Hall of Building 1, Today Art Museum

Courteys of the artist and Today Art Museum, text by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.