Craft China: (Re)making ethnic heritage in China's creative economy

伦敦大学学院考古研究所的研究团队将与中国国家民族学博物馆合作，追踪2018年11月至2020年10月“中国工艺”展览的发展和接受情况。本项目关注的是如何与“文化创意”产业合作，开发和改造中国各地的传统民族遗产工艺品。特别是，它寻求促进当地社区的福祉和经济可持续性，特别是在农村地区。伦敦大学学院的研究团队将作为项目的重要朋友。我们将“中国工艺”项目视为一个充满活力的空间，不仅是对民族遗产的重塑，也是对展览制作本身的实践。该项目将具有不同兴趣和追求的个人和机构的网络编织在一起-学术，商业，策展。因此，它创造了一个相遇和交流的空间，以及研究文化创意产业（在中国被称为文创）如何运作的手段。自2004年中国加入联合国教科文组织创意城市网络（UCCN）以来，创意产业在中国经济增长中发挥着越来越重要的作用。“文创经济”指的是一系列文化、艺术、科技和服务产业，这些产业已被广泛纳入全国各城市的经济战略，与城市品牌、城市规划和旅游业发展密切相关。遵循遗产不断“制造”的概念（Harvey 2010; Svensson and Maags 2018），我们将文创行业与遗产的接触视为一个持续的“创造性再造”过程，在这个过程中，遗产被赋予了新的形式和意义，从而重新配置了真实性和创造力的价值。通过追踪CNME与其他参与者（V&A深圳，云南民族大学）的互动，我们探索了中国文创产业在地方和国际层面上的运作方式，并试图批判性地理解其与遗产的关系。从云南当地手工艺人与民族学家之间的互动，到景德镇和义乌的传统设计产品的制造，再到V&A在深圳新建的分馆，该分馆将与CNME合作举办以手工艺为主题的设计周。该项目的主要数据将来自将在每个合作地点举行的讲习班和人种学实地调查。讲习班将持续一周，重点是创造一种促进对话与合作的氛围。该项目的主要目标之一是为当地手工艺人、博物馆/遗产专业人士、学者和设计师之间的对话创造机会。这项研究将使当地社区的手工艺人受益，将他们的追求和关注更显著地融入展览制作过程。通过工作坊中的非等级对话，我们旨在加深他们对中国工艺项目的参与，从提供他们的知识到共同创作展览。最重要的是，它将促进讨论如何发展地方民族社区与创意产业之间的可持续关系。为了与该项目的对话精神保持一致，我们将制作一系列播客，追溯中国工艺展的发展，并探讨当今中国关于遗产和创意经济的一些关键辩论。对于展览开发商，可下载的小册子介绍了我们的工作坊和展览制作过程。最后，我们的微信网络将使公众随时了解有关项目的最新消息，并允许您与项目团队进行沟通。

In partnership with the Chinese National Museum of Ethnology (CNME), the UCL Institute of Archaeology research team will trace the development and reception of the 'China Craft' exhibition from Nov 2018 to Oct 2020. This project focuses on how traditional ethnic-heritage crafts across China can be developed and remade in collaboration with the 'cultural creative' industries. In particular, it seeks to contribute to the wellbeing and economic sustainability of local communities, particularly in rural areas. The UCL team of researchers will function as a critical friend for the project. We regard the China Craft project as a vibrant space for remaking both ethnic-heritage, but also the practice of exhibition-making itself. The project knits together a network of individuals and institutions with diverse interests and pursuits - academic, commercial, curatorial. It therefore creates a space for encounter and communication, as well as a means of studying how the cultural creative industry, known in China as wenchuang, functions.Since China joined the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in 2004, the creative sector has been playing an increasingly significant role in the growth of China's economy. The wenchuang economy refers to a set of cultural, artistic, technological and service industries, which have been incorporated widely into the economic strategies of cities across the country, linked closely with city branding, urban planning and the development of tourism.' Following the notion that heritage is constantly 'in the making' (Harvey 2010; Svensson and Maags 2018), we see the engagement with heritage in the wenchuang industries as an ongoing process of 'creative remaking', where heritage is given new forms and meaning, resulting in reconfigurations of the values of authenticity and creativity.By tracing the CNME's interactions with the other involved actors (V&A Shenzhen, Yunnan Minzu University), we explore how China's wenchuang industry functions on both the local and international levels and attempt a critical understanding of its engagement with heritage. This 'remaking' process ranges from the interactions between local craft people and ethnologists in Yunnan, to the manufacturing of heritage-inspired design products in the cities of Jingdezhen and Yiwu, and then to the V&A's newly-built outpost in Shenzhen, which will be collaborating with the CNME in staging craft-themed design weeks. The primary data for this project will come from a combination of workshops and ethnographic fieldwork to be held at each of the partner sites. Workshops will be conducted over a week-long period and will focus on creating an atmosphere that fosters dialogue and collaboration. One of the main goals of the project is to create opportunities for dialogue among local craft people, museum/heritage professionals, academics, and designers. The research would benefit the craft people in local communities by incorporating their pursuits and concerns more significantly into the exhibition-making process. Through the non-hierarchical dialogues in the workshops, we aim to deepen their involvement in the China Craft project, from providing their knowledge to co-creating the exhibition. Most importantly, it would facilitate discussions on ways to develop a sustainable relationship between local ethic communities with the creative industry. In keeping with the dialogic spirit of the project, we will be producing a series of podcasts that trace the development of the China Craft exhibition and explores some of the key debates about heritage and the creative economy in China today. For exhibition-developers, a downloadable booklet illustrates our workshops and exhibition-making process. Finally, our WeChat network will keep the public up-to-date with all the latest news about the project and allow you to communicate with the project team.