New Museum, 2014

New Museum carefully documents and observes the impending dismantling of the old natural history museum in Shanghai. The Natural History Museum was founded in 1868 by french Jesuits and at the time of filming located in the building of the former Shanghai Cotton Exchange, a British structure built in 1923. The museum moved to a new building shortly after filming. The relocation of the museum is part of a larger shift in China aimed at developing a new cultural infrastructure. According to official data, a new museum has opened in China every two days on average in five years, with the total number of museums nationwide rising from 4,692 in 2016 to 5,788 in 2020.