Curator's Forum: Collaboration on the Silk Road Exhibitions, Hangzhou, China
The "Life along the Silk Road: Little Stories during the Great Era" exhibition is currently on display in China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou, China, and will run from 21 June until 8 September 2019. Parallel to this exhibition, an International Curators’ Forum on the Silk Road thematic exhibition and international cooperation was also held on 22 and 23 June 2019.
During the International Curators’ Forum on the Silk Road, the idea of shaping an exhibition on the Silk Roads topic, as well as stories from behind the scenes, was discussed. The curators attending this forum shared their experiences in conducting exhibitions on the topic of the Silk Roads. More specifically, they shared their activities linked to the Silk Roads, including those concerning the Oasis and Steppes Roads, the Maritime Silk Roads, and the Silk Roads in China. They also presented their future activities and projects about this theme. At the same time, the Hangzhou consensus to promote cooperation and exchanges in the field of Silk Roads cultural heritage, and to set the International Silk Roads Day, was issued and officially proposed.
The Curator's Forum was organized by China National Silk Museum, with the support of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), the International Alliance of Museums of the Silk Road, the Committee of Museums along the Silk Road, and the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles.
The accompanying exhibition "Life along the Silk Road: Little Stories during the Great Era" aims to reconstruct life along the Silk Roads as it was lived by 13 different people of various times, backgrounds and life experiences. Through their daily life and experiences, this exhibition displays the "great era" of peace, cooperation, openness, and inclusiveness. In addition, from a variety of perspectives at different times, the exhibition presents the diverse characteristics of different periods, and the encounters of numerous cultures along the Silk Roads.
The exhibition "Life along the Silk Road: Little Stories during the Great Era" is supported by the National Cultural Heritage Administration of China, and the People's Government of Zhejiang Province. It is organized in cooperation with a number of institutions including the Institute of Archaeology of Xinjiang, and Dunhuang Research Academy; the State Hermitage Museum of Russia also participates in this exhibition as a special exhibitor among other Chinese exhibitors.
