Newsletter No. 25

Gallery exhibitions are run 文物館二十周年紀念 Twentieth Anniversary of the Art Gallery Irene Chou A POEM 1985 on where to obtain worthy exhibits to display. Such sources include members of the Art Gallery Management Committee, local collectors, and art associations and publications. When deciding which items should be displayed, it is important that the exhibition as a whole complements the Art Gallery's policy of promoting the culture of Guangdong, and fulfills the research requirements of the gallery. The items in the exhibitions should also have sufficient academic and artistic value and harmonize with the gallery's collection as a whole. After careful deliberation the list of selected themes is prioritized, and the exhibitions are planned and staged accordingly. From the conception of a theme to the display of a substantial exhibition, it normally requires 24 to 30 months. Collaborating with the Mainland: A Complicated Procedure Mounting an exhibition in collaboration with museums in the mainland is a substantially more complicated procedure than liaising with local collectors. Once the topic has been chosen, the Art Gallery has to initiate further proceedings immediately. It must first ensure that the parties concerned in China will agree to cooperate. That being ascertained, Art Gallery staff will start to collect relevant information and carry out preliminary research to make sure that there will be enough items to constitute an exhibition. If the exhibition is large in scale, the Art Gallery also needs to approach potential sponsors at this stage to solicit donations to subsidize expenses. The next stage involves preparing and submitting a proposal to the Art Gallery Management Committee. The formal application to the Chinese authorities can only be presented upon approval of the proposal by the committee. As all of this documentation takes time ， the Art Gallery and its exhibition partner usually have to start formulating a written agreement and preparing a list of the possible exhibits simultaneously. Once the formal agreement has been concluded, the Art Gallery will begin its technical preparations. These include sending a camera team to the host museum to take photos of the exhibits, writing descriptions of them in both English and Chinese, and compiling catalogues. It must also organize complementary academic functions, arrange accommodation and entertainment programmes for its colleagues from the mainland, and submit a formal budget for the application of sponsorship. Finally, during the last three months of preparation, the gallery has to make sure that all ancillary 7