Site Selection: Augmenting Culture

The first in a series where our organizers select sites from around the world to analyze each of the subthemes, providing context for their selection and importance to the broader conference theme.

*Not the CCC Museum

The Czech China Contemporary (CCC) Museum located in Beijing Song Zhuang was founded by Aqin Kun Ying Strakova and her husband Jiří Straka in 2010. This Czech-Chinese couple represents not only the cultural exchange between the two countries and their aesthetic traditions together, but also the diaspora of Chinese artists abroad, and the interpretation of Chinese culture by a foreign artist individually. 

We selected this place as representative of our cultural theme because we are united in promoting the cultural exchange between the East and the West within the context of today’s globalization. As the CCC and its featured artists have shown us, the dialogue between two traditions and cultures can inspire and create breathtaking pieces of art. We united in wanting to foster such connections between China and other parts of the world.

Another reason why this place fits our Augmenting Culture theme is that the CCC is a symbol of soft power and a vessel for nurturing diplomatic ties between the Czech Republic and China. Indeed, the CCC provides a neutral ground for debating issues and ideas that “affect both the Czechs and the Chinese, sometimes from the opposite and sometimes from the identical end of the problem.” It allows for productive discussion of critical issues that may not have been possible otherwise – the alternative frame of communication that is only afforded by art.