MPT Expo, Chengdu
Successful mission to Chengdu for ICOM President
ICOM President Suay Aksoy was invited to give a lecture at the Keynote Forum on Silk Road Museum and Cooperation. She presented ICOM's main activities and future goals.
One of the most important museum forums in China, the seventh edition of the Museums and Relevant Products and Technologies Exposition (MPT-EXPO) was held in Chengdu, China, from 14 to 19 September, 2016. Organised by the Chinese government and held every two years, the MPT-EXPO is the preeminent fair for museum professionals and related industries in China.
It provides a platform for Chinese and international museums to understand the state of the museum industry, both domestically and globally, and to engage with hundreds of Chinese museums as well as buyers and suppliers of museum industry-related products and technologies.
During the MPT-EXPO, the sixth meeting of the Member Representatives of the Chinese Museums Association was held. Other specialised committees and membership organisations under the Chinese Museums Association also held a series of lectures, forums and project promotional events.
At the expo site, an area was dedicated to on-site forums, lectures, seminars and academic exchanges, as well as a public activity area for on-site programme marketing events, performances, and signing ceremonies.
ICOM President Suay Aksoy was invited to give a lecture at the Keynote Forum on Silk Road Museum and Cooperation. She presented ICOM's main activities and future goals.
She highlighted the recent changes in the role of museums in our societies: "Today when we look around, we see that museums are places of reconciliation as much as they are of collecting or education. They are places of discussion and debate where the issues can be the environment, old age and urban regeneration. Museums are places of inclusion and of exhibiting alike."
She then focused on the ICOM tools that have been developed since its creation, such as the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums and the ICOM Emergency Red Lists programmes, and presented the ICOM International Training Centre in Beijing as a new step, signalling a new orientation in ICOM's future plans.