The MAM Shanghai named Shai Baitel its first artistic director to bring new technologies to make exhibitions more engaging and educating.
“I perceive the museum as a stage and, as in the theater where the presence of the actors should be enhanced, in the museum case – it’s the works of art,” says Shai Baitel, artistic director of MAM, the Shanghai Museum of Modern Art, to Debbie Luzia (Haaretz, June 2021, Hebrew). “I imagine the visitor walking through the museum with a remote control. I hope to arouse the visitors’ interest in a way that will prevent “zapping,” and give them a thrill like on a roller coaster.”
How do you get Gen Z to look away from its collective smartphone and towards art? asks Vanity Fair in an interview with Shai Beital (45): “By making that art more engaging,” he answers.
The Israeli-born Baitel is best known as the co-founder of Mana Contemporary, the expansive art center with locations in Jersey City, Chicago, and Miami. In 2019, Baitel collaborated with the Modern Art Museum (MAM) as curator of “Bob Dylan: Retrospectrum.” Baitel takes on this role at a unique time for the city (2021) and hopes to usher in a post-pandemic era with exhibitions devoted to Zaha Hadid and Andy Warhol.
His appointment is a milestone for Modern Art Museum Shanghai, which opened its doors back in 2016 on Shanghai’s “cultural mile” along the Huangpu River.
He wants it to include the younger generations but notes that technology has changed the way they consume content. In the past, audiences had to use different media — a book, a television, a radio — but now, almost all forms of information or entertainment can be accessed on the same device, a device that encourages users to comment, share, and engage. Baitel evidently wants to emulate this active participation in his work and is convinced that the traditional dynamic of the passive art viewer won’t cut it in our increasingly virtual world.
In an interview with Artnet News, Baitel was asked about integrating new technologies according to the museum’s vision and values. “MAM’s commitment to immersion and experience is rooted, first and foremost, in embedding storytelling into every exhibition concept. While new technologies, such as digital projections, AR, and VR, find application in a museum context I believe that these are mere tools.”
