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The Art of Museum Diplomacy: The Singapore–France Cultural Collaboration in Perspective

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Abstract

In the aftermath of the devastating terrorist attacks in the USA and Europe, most notably the 9/11 attacks on New York, there has been renewed interest in the role of cultural diplomacy in international relations as a strategic platform for engaging with other nations and for wielding “soft power” on the international stage. Central to this renewed interest on cultural diplomacy is that culture can provide a critical platform for contact and negotiations when political relations are in jeopardy or for recalibrating relationships with emerging powers. This study provides an analysis of cross-cultural museum exchanges as an instrument of “soft power” and cultural diplomacy by considering Singapore’s motives and outcomes of engaging in the Singapore–France cultural collaboration. The study demonstrates that while cross-cultural museum exchanges can serve as symbolic gestures of political goodwill, their effectiveness in shaping the preferences of other nations through exerting “soft power” on the international stage is limited. These exchanges are often apolitical in their initiation because museums seldom take their nations’ political goals into consideration in selecting their prospective partners and the subject of collaboration. While cross-cultural museum exchanges are apolitical in their initiation, their consequences are nonetheless political due to inherent unequal power relations between the collaborating parties.

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Notes

  1. The Eternal Egypt: Treasures from the British Museum exhibition was held at the ACM from 11 February 1999 to 30 May 1999.

  2. The Journey of Faith: Art and History from the Vatican exhibition was held at the ACM from 18 June 2005 to 9 October 2005.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their insights on the previous draft of this article. She would also like to thank her supervisors Dr. Marilena Alivizatou and Dr. Paul Basu for their guidance, as well as her interviewees Dr. Kenson Kwok, Ms. Szan Tan and Ms. Lucinda Seah for their sharing. All views expressed in this article are the author's own, and are not representative of the views of her employers.

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  1. Strategic Planning and Policy Division, National Heritage Board of Singapore, 61 Stamford Road, Stamford Court, #03-08, Singapore, 178892, Singapore

    Yunci Cai

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Cai, Y. The Art of Museum Diplomacy: The Singapore–France Cultural Collaboration in Perspective. Int J Polit Cult Soc 26, 127–144 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-012-9122-7

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