EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Art, Archeology & Material Culture 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 78 sector is facing different challenges and the institution of the museum itself is searching for its own identity. In most cases, contemporary art museums are “for-profit” institutions, managed more like cultural industries than cultural institutions, and most of them collect works without a precise scientific direction or a long-term curatorial plan. Another peculiar characteristic of this new museum system, with a few exceptions, is a general absence of a systematic permanent collection of contemporary art works, making the museum act more as a kunsthalle. These aspects reveal a strong contradiction with the primary mission of the museum, which is to research, collect, display works of art and preserve them for future generations. Within the context described above, some artists, curators and museum directors are exploring new ways of conceiving the museum, and are attempting to develop new approaches of exhibiting and curat- ing. One such example of this innovative and dynamic approach is the Guangdong Times Museum, inau- gurated in 2010. Some of the museum’s most interesting exhibitions and initiatives are focused on the institutional critique, conceived as a way of exploring anew the relationship between artists, curators, art works, museums and the public. This approach is challenging the idea itself of the museum not only by staging new kinds of exhibitions, but also because the museum does not have a permanent art collection. This museum does not function as a place where the works of art are exhibited in their final stage, but rather as a place where new ideas take shape. This paper aims to examine this new curatorial approach, and some of the most recent and innovative exhibition projects related to the institutional critique will be described as a case study. Festa Marcella (Ca' Foscari University of Venice) Qiemu’erqieke Complex: a New Perspective on Its Cultural Attribution Key words: cultural attribution, Qiemu’erqieke, Chemurchek culture, Altai Bronze Age, Siberian Prehistory Cultural attribution of archeological sites in Southern Siberia and theAltai region remains a problematic issue and a major topic in Eurasia Prehistory: the complexity of the contexts in the area on one side, and the failure in communication between prehistoric scientists on the other, make difficult any reliable cultural assignments of single sites to a recognized tradition, and do not allow a useful debate on the topic. Thus, despite the extraordinary scholarly efforts in studying the area over the past decades, important questions, concerning the distinctive features of each culture, how traditions were distinguished, if at all, and how they interacted, have not been fully answered. Taking into consideration available material by Chinese, Russian and Western scholarships, this paper aims at examining the question of the cultural attribution of Bronze Age and Iron Age cemeter- ies in Qiemu’erqieke village (Xinjiang, China). Many scholars consider the context as belonging to the “Qiemu’erqieke (Chemurchek) culture”, but detailed study of the burial structures and graves goods of the cemeteries indicates very few unique features and, to different extent, many similarities with several Siberian cultures. Especially clear are the affinities with Okunevo’s type sites in the Minusinsk basin and beyond. Thus, according to the material available so far and to the standards used by archaeologists for cultural attribution, it should no be excluded that Qiemu’erqieke cemeteries could originally represent a local variant of the Okunevo culture, which then may have developed independently. Furth Charlotte (University of Southern California) Frederich Hirth, Qing Dynasty Painting, and the American Art World Key words: Frederich Hirth, Qing dynasty, literati painting, Asian art in the west, early 20oth century Frederich Hirth (1845–1927) is well known as a pioneer German Sinologist and historian. He is less well known as a scholar, connoisseur and collector of Chinese paintings. His interest blossomed in China in the late Qing dynasty---a time when Western interest in “Oriental antiquities” was being shaped by global