Museum seeks faraway friends
Posted May 27, 2011 05:08:18 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Museum in downtown Kitchener is looking to build bridges in the far East.
CEO David Marskell departs today (Friday) for a 10-day junket through China which will feature 9 museum visits and meetings with Chinese dignitaries and business people.
Marskell’s goal is to foster relationships with China’s arts and culture community in hopes of creating friendship agreements with a couple of museums there.
“Perhaps there could be an exchange of staff in the summertime (where) one or two (of our) people could go and work there and a couple of people (from China) could come and work here,” Marskell says. “Exhibits could be shared and, who knows, maybe the two of us could create something that could tour on a different continent.”
The idea of a touring exhibit is also something Marskell wants to promote on this trip. In September, The Museum will debut “RAM: Rethinking Art and Machine.” That exhibit will continue through January of 2012 in Kitchener and Marskell is optimistic of booking the exhibit into China by next March.
While careful to not reveal too many details, Marskell is clearly excited by the exhibit curated by Marla Wasser, the same woman who brought the Warhol exhibit to Kitchener two years ago. Marskell thinks RAM is a fitting showcase of Waterloo Region.
“My original hope, as I saw Marla starting to work her magic of bringing amazing talents together, was that this would be a wonderful export from this technology-based community, this intersection of art and technology,” Marskell explains.
Marskell is no stranger to working with China. While he was the director of strategic initiatives at Ontario Place, Marskell collaborated to create the highly successful Chinese Lantern Festival there.
Waterloo Region also shares several connections to China.
“Specifically with one of the cities, Chongqing, the City of Waterloo has a friendship agreement and Wilfrid Laurier University has an office there,” Marskell lists. “A (former) resident of Cambridge is the consul general in Shanghai and the Technology Triangle, (and CEO) John Jung, just led a trade mission there.”
Museums in Halifax, Ottawa and Calgary have also expressed an interest in the RAM exhibit but Marskell is hopeful of touring it to China first.
