One Pass Gets You Access to 12 of Beijing's Best Galleries This International Museum Day

Huang Chenkuang | May 15, 2019 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 428 reads

Great news art lovers! Twelve of the coolest galleries in the city have come together to offer a special one-day pass for either May 18 and 19 in aid of International Museum Day this Saturday.

For RMB 158, visitors will gain either free access or 50 percent off to the exhibitions at the participating galleries. Considering the quality and breadth of the shows that it encompasses, that makes for a pretty good bargain.

The one-day pass is in keeping with the spirit of International Museum Day, which was established in 1977 by the International Council of Museums as a means to encourage galleries and museums to take a more active approach in modern society by promoting awareness of art’s role in daily life.

In our opinion, the highlight of the free shows is access to the late French-American sculptor Louise Bourgeois' retrospective at Song Art Museum (on May 18 only), which would normally cost RMB 200. As we wrote previously, "As one of the world’s most respected sculptors, Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) demonstrated her unique individualism and powerful inventiveness in part by using materials as diverse as latex and bronze. This solo exhibition features 49 major works from the French-American artist’s 70-year career, including her later pieces made of fabric, as well as her monumental spider sculpture Maman."

Other shows we’d recommend include Red Brick Art Museum's group exhibition of 14 Marcel Duchamp Prize-winning artists (free down from RMB 130); Today Art Museum's A Journey in LOVE (RMB 60 down from RMB 120), featuring photographs and films by Andy Warhol (pictured at top) and Jean-Michel Jarre documenting their travels to China in the '80s and '90s; Tsinghua Art Museum's exhibition of national treasures from Afghanistan (free down from RMB 60); UCCA's Society Guidance (free down from RMB 60), a group photography exhibition of China as captured in the late '90s; and M Woods' solo exhibition of American post-minimalist artist Richard Tuttle (RMB 40 down from RMB 80).

Tickets for the International Museum Day one-day pass can be bought here. The 12 participating galleries are as follows: