Rockbund Art Museum

The Rockbund Art Museum (RAM, Chinese: 上海外滩美术馆; pinyin: Shànghǎi Wàitān Měishùguǎn; literally: "Shanghai Bund Art Museum") is a contemporary art museum in central Shanghai, China. The museum is on Huqiu Road, in the former Royal Asiatic Society building completed in 1933 near The Bund waterfront. The museum is dedicated to being an influential, innovative, sustainable organization devoted to the promotion of projects within the field of international contemporary art. There are no permanent collections. Featured Chinese artists have included Cai Guo-Qiang and Zeng Fanzhi.

Rockbund Art Museum is located in the peninsular headland where Suzhou Creek flows into the Huangpu River, in an area now marketed as the "Source of the Bund" (Waitanyuan). The museum is housed in the former Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) building, which was also home to one of China's first modern museums, the previous Shanghai Museum. Adjacent to the Former Consulate-General of the United Kingdom, Shanghai, this neighborhood was one of the first settlements of foreign expatriates, and a centre of cultural and commercial prosperity.

Started in 1932, the Art Deco RAS building was part of the history of 19th and 20th century -European cultural and academic exchange. At its height, this five-story building, which contained a lecture hall, a library, and a museum, received over 7,000 visits a month. Bringing together the functions of scholarly research, cultural exchange and public education under one roof, this structure was unique in Shanghai at the time.

During the half-century of its existence, the RAS Shanghai Museum had established collaborative relationships with museums internationally, including the British Museum, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Musée Guimet in France. Through its programmes, it contributed to scholarship in related disciplines, cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, and the dissemination of scientific knowledge in the community. Eventually it had become the largest center for Oriental Studies as well as an institution for public education.

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