Hou Hanru

Hou Hanru (Chinese: 侯瀚如; pinyin: Hóu Hànrú; born 1963 in Guangzhou) is a Chinese art curator and critic. He is Artistic Director of the MAXXI in Rome, Italy.

Biography

Hou graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and moved to Paris in 1990. He lived 16 years in France before moving to the United States in 2006. He worked at San Francisco Art Institute as Director of Exhibitions and Public Program and Chair of Exhibition and Museum Studies from 2006 to 2012.

He has curated numerous exhibitions including "Cities On The Move" (1997–2000), Shanghai Biennale (2000), Gwangju Biennale (2002), Venice Biennale (French Pavilion, 1999, Z.O.U. -- Zone Of Urgency, 2003, Chinese Pavilion, 2007), Nuit Blanche (2004, Paris), the 2nd Guangzhou Triennial (2005), the 2nd Tirana Biennial (2005), the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007), "Global Multitude" (Luxembourg 2007), "Trans(cient)City" (Luxembourg 2007), EV+A 2008 (Limerick), "The Spectacle of the Everyday, The 10th Lyon Biennale" (Lyon, 2009), the 5th Auckland Triennial (Auckland, New Zealand, May - August 2013), etc.

Open city

In war, in the event of the imminent capture of a city, the government/military structure of the nation that controls the city will sometimes declare it an open city, thus announcing that it has abandoned all defensive efforts. The attacking armies of the opposing military will then be expected not to bomb or otherwise attack the city but simply march in. The concept aims at protecting the city's historic landmarks and resident civilians from an unnecessary battle.

Attacking forces do not always respect the declaration of an "open city". Defensive forces will use it as a political tactic as well. In some cases, the declaration of a city to be "open" is made by a side on the verge of defeat and surrender; in other cases, those making such a declaration are willing and able to fight on but prefer that the specific city be spared.

According to the Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, it is forbidden for the attacking party to "attack, by any means whatsoever, non-defended localities".

Open Museum

Open Museum is a participatory exhibit space for fine artists, art museums, and art enthusiasts. Also a not-for-profit digital outreach tool for artists and museums, its purpose is to help make the arts more accessible to everyone and support museums in engaging people around their collections. Visitors can explore Open Museum through Objects, Museums, or People.

Open Museum also offers educational and inspirational games for art and museum lovers, such as The Association Game (t.a.g.), which everyone is welcome to watch, but only members can participate in.

Open Museum is a kind of “Facebook meets Blogger and Flickr for the visual arts.” By being a simple, web-based tool and keeping the object at its center, the museum fills a niche: a destination site for art students or enthusiasts and a tool for visual artists or art museums wanting to use the internet to optimize its outreach and connect with other arts professionals. Open Museum is ideal for exhibits that have no permanent home in a museum’s exhibit space, or for collections that have no catalogs. For museums without an actual building, Open Museum provides a permanent (virtual) home away-from-home for collections that would exist nowhere else.