| 現在我國有越來越多的城市意識到文化繁榮和發展對一座城市的形象和競爭力的重要價值。于是，在許多城市中，各種美輪美奐的美術館爭先恐后地建立起來， 但是前來欣賞藝術的觀眾寥寥無幾。老百姓對藝術殿堂的冷漠與美術館公益性、群眾性的本質屬性形成了極大的反差。近日，來自全國十幾個城市的美術館館長齊聚深圳關山月美術館，對美術館的現狀和未來進行了研討。 |
More and more Chinese local governments are waking up to the fact that a dash of culture can improve a city’s image. Lavish art museums are springing up like mushrooms all round the country. But they are attracting very few visitors. The very purpose of an art museum is to promote public enjoyment and welfare, so how do we explain public indifference? Dozens of curators met in the Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum to discuss this issue and the future of Chinese museums. |
| 美術館“門可羅雀” |
Museums are getting the cold shoulder. |
| 美術館肩負著豐富群眾文化生活和培養群眾文化藝術素養的天然使命。設計師的設計、美術館的選址和藏品的收集等等，其所耗費的巨額金錢和煞費苦心，無一不是為了吸引更多觀眾踏進藝術的殿堂。但是經過美術館門前的人們卻總是行色匆匆，駐足觀賞的人屈指可數，對此種讓人費解的現象，參加座談會的各位館長都紛紛表示無奈。 |
The missions of an art museum are to enrich cultural life and cultivating people’s artistic taste. Art museums attract visitors by their design, location and, of course, their collections. But despite the vast sums spent on organizing exhibitions passers by seldom bother to walk in. It is a stubborn fact that is causing curators to sigh with despair. |
| 深圳關山月美術館坐落在風景優美的蓮花山公園腳下，該館特聘研究員陳履生用“門可羅雀”來形容這座高雅美術館平時的窘狀。 |
Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum at the foot of beautiful Lianhua Mountain is a case in point. Museum Research fellow Chen Lusheng said it had so few visitors that, as an old Chinese idiom goes; you could “catch sparrows on the doorstep”. |
| “經常是美術館大張旗鼓地隆重開幕，過兩天就沒人光顧了。”河南美術館館長化建國提到一些美術館的遭遇時說。雖然河南美術館位于鄭州市中心，不過進館的觀眾以周末舉家前去游玩的居多，其中真正去欣賞藝術作品的人很少。 |
“We have become used to seeing an empty exhibition hall just days after the opening ceremony,” said Hua Jianguo, curator of Henan Art Museum. His museum is in the center of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan Province. Most of the visitors are parents with children looking for family entertainment. Very few visitors could be described as art enthusiasts。 |
| 一些美術館為了避免長期荒廢和閑置，便和一些企業、單位舉辦聯誼活動或其他商業活動，借此聚攏人氣、收取租金。 |
Faced with low visitor numbers and empty exhibition halls, some museums resort to renting space to private companies who want to stage commercial functions. |
| 美術館緣何如此“寂寞” |
Why are art museums so unpopular in China?
|
| 有館長認為，我國美術館的發展還處于初級階段，與國外美術館相比，中國的美術館甚少有自己的藏品。因此，除了每年舉辦數個展覽之外，美術館普遍缺乏吸引觀眾的“秘密武器”。 |
Some curators said people should realize that Chinese art museums are at an early stage of development. They have little in the way of existing collections and have to borrow art from other museums to stage exhibitions. |
| 優雅地矗立在城市里，卻不能夠為公眾提供服務，這是當前美術館普遍面臨的窘境。陳履生說，各個美術館都想出了許多辦法去解決，比如“免費開放”。但是免費開放并不能從根本上解決問題。館長們認為，公眾并非支付不起低價的門票，美術館長期“寂寞”的原因還在于老百姓普遍缺乏上美術館去欣賞美術作品這種文化傳統和習慣。還有就是美術館本身有坐等別人上門的習慣，對自己的展覽宣傳不夠。 |
Elegant but empty museums are turning into embarrassing white elephants in many cities. Chen Lusheng said managers are constantly thinking up schemes to attract visitors. One way is to let the public in free of charge but that seems to have limited success. Ticket prices don’t seem to be the main factor in keeping people away. But in many places there is no tradition of going to art museums and many museums are doing little to promote their exhibitions. |
![Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum [arton.net]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20091207/000cf1a48b7f0c86e7c801.jpg "Shenzhen Guan Shanyue Art Museum [arton.net]")
