NewJeans, Zhu Zhu, Karen Mok: why Asian stars are becoming the voice of museums
- From K-pop groups to Chinese actresses to Cantopop singers, major museums are courting Asian stars for audio guides to widen their audiences
What do Chinese actress Zhu Zhu, Cantopop star Karen Mok, supermodel Cici Xiang and K-pop phenomenon NewJeans have in common? They have all become voices for major museums reaching out to wider Asian audiences.
Zhu is the narrator of the first Chinese audio guide made for a contemporary art exhibition at the Galleria Borghese in Rome, which Mandarin speakers will be able to follow from July.
The 39-year-old Beijing-born actress and singer is famous in mainland China for having had a successful movie career at home and in Hollywood, where she has acted in films such as Cloud Atlas and the Netflix series Marco Polo. More recently, she has gained new popularity among Chinese youth through the hit reality show Sisters Who Make Waves.
Her love of contemporary art has also recently taken centre stage, with her posting works from her collection on Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like social media platform popular in mainland China. They include Edward Hopper-like photography works by Chinese photography artist Huang Xiaoliang, which she collected early in her career; a Tracey Emin neon-light work; and still-life paintings by Hilary Pecis, which she has collected more recently.
She was in Rome to launch the audio guide, made to accompany the exhibition “Louise Bourgeois: Unconscious Memories”, which continues the museum’s tradition of showcasing contemporary artists in dialogue with its 400-year-old collection.
