An Opportunity and A Conundrum: A Case Study of “Centre

Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project Shanghai”

Introduction

The case study will focus on the “Centre Pompidou x West Bund

Museum Project Shanghai”, which is the most important cultural

communication and collaboration project between France and

China until today (Centre Pompidou). The projected was

inaugurated on November 6th in 2019 in Xuhui Waterfront in the

cultural districts in Shanghai (Centre Pompidou). The

unprecedented five-year cooperation brings opportunities for the

two countries in cultural exchange (Centre Pompidou). For

example, according to the major approaches of the project,

artworks from the Centre Pompidou are lent to Shanghai West

Bund Museum to be exhibited (Centre Pompidou). However, the

project also has its difficulties, for the fact that the Chinese

participant behind West Bund Museum is the Shanghai West Bund

Development Group Co., Ltd, which is a solely state-owned

enterprise authorized by the government of Xuhui District in

Shanghai (West Bund). Hence, the project brings the question of

whether it will guarantee its cultural quality in the implementing

instead of becoming a propaganda machine of the Chinese

government. Ang argues that cultural complexity is generated from

the diversity of “meanings and perspectives which continuously

work to shape and reshape their shifting and contested

configurations” (2011, p. 790). Cultural complexity is related to the

factors that affect the ways we see the world. How we view the

things will generate different results, which will cause various

complexities. Other scholars also argue that cultural complexity

comprises a large number of “social networks, social groups,

hierarchies, power structures, roles, positions, and/or divisions”

(Noble, 2011, p. 831; Allen & Liu, 2004, p. 540). In this view,

cultural complexity is related to society and power. This paper will

research into how the case was affected by forms of complexity,

such as the impact of the Center Pompidou on the local culture of

Shanghai, the influence and competition from French artists on

Chinese artists and the doubt about the project as a propaganda of

China. The paper will draw on diversity (UNESCO, 2009) to ease

the conflicts faced by the Center Pompidou when entering a

different culture context, cultural citizenship (Karim, 2005) to

enable Chinese artists to participate in the transnational

communication in Paris and Shanghai with a relatively equal

opportunity with French artists and the transformed creative city

policy (Karvelyte, 2020) to explore the difficulties and dilemmas

faced by the cultural project in China’s context. The essay argues

that the intercultural project needs a cultural intelligence approach.

Cultural intelligence means the ability of a person when he or she

adapts to new cultural environments, which is based on his or her

cognitive, motivational and behavioral aspects (Earely, 2002). In

the theory of cultural intelligence, designing exhibitions

corresponding to the local culture, presenting Chinese artists’

works in the Center Pompidou in Paris, and advocating culture-led

ideas and practices to guarantee the quality of the project are

ways to address the issue.

Background

The project was initiated by the Centre Pompidou, with Shanghai

project being one of its overseas outposts (Brown, 2019). The joint

venture with the West Bund cultural district means France finally

finds a foothold in China, and through this outpost, it can show

more soft power in Asia (Brown, 2019). Soft power was coined by

Joseph Nye in 1990, it refers to the idea of how a country projects

its power to other countries (Peng & Keane, 2019). There are three

sources which can attract other nations: culture, political values,

and foreign policies (Nye 1990; Peng & Keane, 2019). In this view,

the project as a cultural diplomacy of France can improve its

national image in Asian countries (Brown, 2019). Further, the

Shanghai project also provides a good chance for the French art

institution to learn more about Chinese contemporary art (Brown,

2019). The Center Pompidou has already contained a large

collection of 200 artworks from Chinese artists or artists who were

born in China, which is viewed definitely to grow in the coming

years (Brown, 2019). Besides, the project will bring more Chinese

visitors back to Paris, which is also beneficial for the increase in

tourism, and thus French economic growth (Brown, 2019). Hence,

the project is expected to bring both economic value and cultural

influence to France and the Center Pompidou. As for Shanghai,

according to Karvelyte (2020, p.177), it takes strategies based on

the creative city theory to enhance its “global power and cultural

influence of China”, which is also included in the “cultural soft

power policy agenda”. Hence, the project can be seen as an

approach for China to improve its cultural attractiveness in the

international stage. However, the project has its difficulties.

Problems like impacting the local culture and bringing more

competition to Chinese artists also present controversies about the

project. The high profession and quality of the collection of the

Center Pompidou bring pressure along with it to the private

museums in Shanghai, such as the Long Museum, Tank Shanghai

and the Yuz Museum in the West Bund cultural district. At the

same time, the complex and sensitive environment in China also

brings hurdles to the collaboration project. According to Brown

(2019), the president of the Center Pompidou, Serge Lavignes

admitted that under five pieces of a hundred artworks that were

presented in the first exhibition had been edited under the request

of Chinese authorities for “ ‘various’ reasons that were ‘not only

political’ ”, which put the president’s assurance of the artistic

freedom of the Pompidou in an awkward position. Hence, in this

condition, this is a project of cultural complexities.

Diversity, cultural citizenship and the transformed creative

city theory

The paper will draw on diversity (UNESCO, 2009), cultural

citizenship (Karim, 2005) and the transformed creative city policy

(Karvelyte, 2020) to look into the case study. Cultural diversity is

understood as a source to improve profit and enhance

performance (UNESCO, 2009). This essay will use diversity to

discuss the benefits the Pompidou brings to Shanghai, the impact

it will have on the local culture, and possible solutions to this

problem. The second theory is cultural citizenship. According to

Karim (2005, p.148), it “can be described as cultural

empowerment, namely the capacity to participate effectively,

creatively and successfully within a national culture”. Culture

enables a citizen to have more ability to participate better in

cultural activities. A person’s cultural ability can be learnt from

contacting with others (Karim, 2005). With citizens gaining more

and more social abilities, they will have more potential to exercise

their citizenship, which also provides more chances to show

creativity, thus benefitting more people potentially (Karim, 2005).

The paper will draw on cultural citizenship to discuss the

competition brought by the Center Pompidou to the Chinese artists

in Shanghai and the approaches to deal with the problem so as to

achieve a win-win success in the cultural participation of artists in

France and China. The last concept will be discussed in the essay

is creative city. In the 20th century, it considered that a good city is

a diverse city, “with social, economic and cultural diversity, and

commensurate diversity in the built form, generating public

engagement and creativity” (Shaw, 2014, p.141). Many years later,

in 2002, Florida brought the creative city idea to a broader public

and even the global mainstream, with his study based on the work
of two scholars Landry and Bianchini, who believed that creativity

could enhance the local economy (Shaw, 2014; Landry & Bianchini

1995). However, the theory also has its limitations, with the scholar

Shaw (2014) argues that Florida’s creative city discourse focuses

too much on economic development that it harms the quality it

should have to improve in the city. Later, creative city theory in its

Asian practices in cities like Shanghai, Hongkong and Taipei also

included some obvious changes in its understanding, which is

driven more by political demands (Karvelyte, 2020). The paper will

discuss this kind of transformed creative city in the case in

Shanghai.

Issues of complexity

There are three forms of complexity in this case. First, although the

project adds more diversity to the local city, it will also cause an

impact on the local culture. Western culture and arts brought by

the French institution will bring opportunities as well as challenges

to Shanghai. One challenge is that private museums in Shanghai

such as the Yuz Museums, the Long Museum and Tank Shanghai

may be put in a disadvantaged position in its competition with the

Pompidou, which is confident of its professionalism and the tastes

of the collections. The Pompidou enjoys a high reputation as a star

museum for its modern and contemporary collections not only in

France but also in the world. With the diversion of the museum

visitors from the Pompidou, it brings a burden to the private local

museums. Second, the western artworks presented by the

Pompidou will also cause more competition to Chinese artists,

despite it provides a good chance for artists in the two countries to

communicate and learn from each other. The work of masters

such as Pablo Picasso, Fernand Léger, Marcel Duchamp and etc.

enhances the competition in the local art world (West Bund). Third,

according to Karvelyte (2020), different from western cities, in

which the creative city theory has been welcomed due to its

compatibility with the market-centered policy aims, in Shanghai,

the creative city process is also driven by imperatives of politics,

not only by economy. The creative city strategy is included in

China’s soft power policy, which is aimed to enhance the national

influence in the international stage (Karvelyte, 2020). However,

some argue that China’s effort in improving its soft power brings an

opposite effect, for the fact that, considering its strict control at

home, efforts to convince other countries of its thriving culture is

questioned as propaganda (Nye, 2012; Peng & Keane, 2019).

Hence, the project runs the risk of enhancing foreign negative

views on China. Shanghai’s creative city effort along with China’s

ambition in improving its soft power behind the project are a

complicated subject, which increases the cultural complexity of the

project as well.

Forms of cultural intelligence

Considering these forms of complexity, three theories of cultural

intelligence are discussed in the paper to deal with the issue. First,

diversity theory is drawn to address the impact on the local culture

in Shanghai. The ability of thinking “globally as well as locally” will

be good for global management (UNESCO, 2009, p. 179).

Localization is seen as a method to ease the conflicts in a different

culture. The international marketing strategy includes the way of

customizing a product so as to adapt to a specific cultural

environment (UNESCO, 2009). Hence, the suggested approaches

such as “designing exclusive exhibitions in resonance with the

local cultural context” and “implementing the cultural programme

and mediation activities” will be useful to deal with the challenges

of the French institution’s landing on China (Centre Pompidou).

Second, cultural citizenship is involved in discussing the problems

of competition brought to Chinese artists. According to Karim

(2005), on one hand, policy-makers need to guarantee that their

own culture will not be harmed by foreign cultures; on the other

hand, liberal and democratic nations’ governments don’t want to

isolate their people from the world. Participating actively in

transnational cultural communication will be good for society in

today’s world. Moreover, Karim (2005) also argues that a more

developed and richer society will be provided through an

intercultural policy to enable people from different cultures and

backgrounds to interact effectively with each other. Hence, to deal

with the project’s pressure on Chinese artists, it ensures that not

only French artists’ work will be presented in its Chinese outpost,

Chinese artists’ works and exhibitions will also be shown in the

Pompidou in Paris, to guarantee an equal cultural participation

between the artists of the two countries (Centre Pompidou). Third,

focusing on culture-centered activities will be a solution to the

doubt on the project as a propaganda. The policy environment in

China is very different from that in western countries, however,

whether we can find a coordination between culture and politics is

under question. Paying attention to the culture-led ideas in the

practices of the project may provide some insights to the question.

However, with the existence of the government’s stringent control

on China, it will always arouse the doubt from the outside. The
project and China’s soft power policy are facing a conundrum,

which means it still has a long way to go.

Conclusion

The project overall is a good attempt for the two nations’

collaboration in arts and culture. However, considering the

difficulties and conflicts it will face in its landing on a different

culture and the special policy context of China, it is also a project

full of cultural complexities. If we want to develop sophisticated

and sustainable responses to complex problems in the world, we

need to realize the complexity, for the fact that if we oversimplify

the solutions, they will be unsustainable and bring results opposite

to what we want (Ang, 2011). In this case, cultural intelligence is

drawn to approach the problems. In the view of cultural

intelligence, people shouldn’t use a final or one-size-fits-all solution

to deal with complexities; if we want to solve a problem of

complexity, we can only solve it partially through long lasting and

hard negotiations with different opinions that are shown on it and

various interests and perspectives it involves (Ang, 2011). Hence,

suggested cultural intelligence of diversity, such as designing

special exhibitions according to Shanghai’s local culture and

carrying on mediation activities are used to solve the problem

aroused by localization; cultural citizenship discourse is discussed

to enhance cultural participation; the idea of focusing on the

culture-led practices is used to respond to the doubt on the

creative city policy in transformation in China. However, these

cultural intelligence strategies can only partially solve the

problems, more efforts are still needed to be put in the complex

environment in China in future.

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