Shenzhen, the creative hub with a V&A museum
Forget the fake bags: huge design project continues the southern Chinese city’s reinvention
Known to the world as a city of knock-offs, Shenzhen is seeking to reinvent itself as a creative hub for China’s new economic vision with the opening of a huge design museum in partnership with Britain’s V&A.
From robotics for children to mobiles for the elderly, the V&A’s exhibit at the 2015 Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture gives a taster of the designs thought up in the southern city that will go on display when the Shekou Design Museum officially opens in 2017.
READ MORE: Shekou Design Museum leads push to make Shenzhen the design capital of China
Part of a huge development project by state-backed China Merchants Group, it will not only be the V&A’s first major foray outside of Britain but also, according to its curator, the first time a museum has entered into this type of partnership abroad.
“This is us coming to China and trying to engage with what is happening with China’s creative communities... in a different way,” Luisa E. Mengoni, head of the Shekou V&A gallery, said.
“We’re developing a new collaboration model working in partnership with an organisation in China, which is one of the countries that is the most important for us.”
