Yin Xu

Biography

As a Curator at Fenny Fine Arts, Yin oversees exhibition planning and execution. She is responsible for communicating with domestic and foreign museums, understanding the needs of all parties, and then matching museums with suitable needs, planning proposals, and starting exhibition-based exchanges between the two sides.

Between 2023 and 2025, Yin will be working with the V&A to coordinate a China tour of an exhibition about William Morris and the British Arts and Crafts movement. The exhibition opened at the Nanjing Museum on in May 2023 and will visit at least five venues across China. During the exhibition, Yin contributed in the publication of the catalogue and the production of souvenirs.

Yin previously worked as a Curator and the Director at the Museum Square Culture and Art in Beijing, and though she no longer works in a state-owned department, she still tries to promote museum exchanges in a more active and flexible way, driving more museums to participate in international cooperation, and bring more beautiful art enjoyment to audiences at home and abroad.

Yin’s dream for museums of the future is for museums to be more inclusive, interactive, and community focused. She envisions museums that showcase diverse stories, histories, and perspectives – where people of all backgrounds can see themselves represented. Interactive exhibits with emerging technologies like augmented reality and AI can make visiting museums an engaging, personalized experience. Community involvement is key, and she dreams of museums partnering with local schools, arts groups, nonprofits, etc. to be hubs for learning and exchange. Museums could host community events, crowdsource local history or art projects, provide spaces for public dialogue on social issues, and give people a platform to share their cultures. Fundamentally, she hopes museums continue broadening access to arts, culture, and knowledge for all. With creativity and innovation, museums can keep evolving into even more democratic, participatory institutions of the future.

At the British Museum
During her time on the International Training Programme in 2011, Yin Xu was based in the Department of Asia and her partner place was spent at Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums in Newcastle.

In 2011 participants were asked to develop a proposal for a small temporary exhibition using an object from the British Museum’s collections.  Yin’s exhibition project proposal was entitled Next Station China: The Trade Express Between Europe and the Orient.

Legacy projects
In 2021 Yin, working with her colleague Shi Wanghuan (China, ITP Fellow 2016), was granted an ITP Research Grant to support the translation and editing of Museum Registration Methods which they aim to share with museums across China.