With full support from the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong Government, Vitra Design Museum, the Hong Kong Design Centre and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design joined hands in organising this year’s Asian MUSCON in Hong Kong on 20 – 23 September.
The Asian Museum Network Conference (MUSCON) 2012, coincided with the city’s celebration of 2012 as “Hong Kong Design Year” and focused on design museums as well as museum design in the context of Asia and its people. The Network Conference on day one brought together members of the museum community from around the world to exchange ideas and thoughts on upcoming projects. The Public Conference on day two welcomed members of the public to learn about the local and overseas projects, opportunities and knowledge, and contributed to the contemporary development of new museum concepts, collections, and exhibitions beyond the classic model of modern art museums.
Keynote speakers included Deyan Sudjic from Design Museum London, Hang Jian from China Museum of Design, Linda Vlassenrood from International New Town Institute, and Susanna Pettersson from Alvar Aalto Foundation, just to name a few. These speakers and more made up an interesting program featuring lectures on their specialties and topical discussions on this year’s theme: Design Museum, Museum Design.
In order to promote the exchange between European, American and Asian cultural institutions and respond to the museum boom in China and elsewhere in Asia, Asian MUSCON was launched in 2008 and has since become an increasingly significant event for Asian cultural institutes.
More about MUSCON: http://muscon.org/node/5461
The Network Conference was held at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University where members of the museum community engaged in closed-door presentations.
A photo op with Mr Edmond Lee (Executive Director of HKDC), Ms Lesley Lau (Chief Curator of Art Promotion Office), Dr Louis Ng (Assistant Director of LCSD),Alexander von Vegesack (Vitra Design Museum), Mr Marc Zehntner (Director of Vitra Design Museum), and Mr Alvin Yip (Director of JCDISI) at the Welcome Reception.
MUSCON participants enjoyed a personal tour from Dr Kan Tai-Keung at his exhibition Hong Kong Design Legacy and Beyond: The 70 Fruitful Years of Kan Tai-Kung at HK Central Library.
