0 Introduction

From March to July 2018, I was appointed as"UK-China Rutherford Curatorial Research Fellowships" by Science Museum Group to create a preliminary framework for a touring exhibition (to be held around 2022/2023) within the broad scope of Chinese science and technology. In this article, I take a retrospective look at this five-month research project with the aim of providing some insight into curatorial research of an exploratory nature, in particular the challenges that emerged at both practical level and conceptual level. To situate this curatorial project in a bigger context, I start with a brief history of the Science Museum, London (one of the five museums of Science Museum Group).

The origin of the Science Museum, London can be traced back to the Great Exhibition of 1851 held in the Crystal Palace in London. Henry Cole, who organized the exhibition together with Prince Albert,was a main advocate for science and art education at that time. In 1857, Henry Cole became the first director of what was then South Kensington Museum(transitioned from the Museum of Ornamental Art in Malborough House) under the Department of Science and Art. A majority of the collections were purchased from the Great Exhibition. Gradually the Science and Art collections at the South Kensington Museum were separated and in 1893 a director was appointed to attend specifically to the science collections. In 1899, Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone for the new building for the Art Museum,which then became the Victoria and Albert years later, in 1909, the Science Collections were officially separated from the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Science Museum, London came into existence. A few decades later, physical expansion of the museum outside London led to the opening of the National Railway Museum in York in 1975 and the National Museum of Photography in Bradford (now the National Media Museum) in 1983. From 1984 to 2012, the Science Museum,London and the two sister museums started to be administered by a Board of Trustees and were known as "the National Museum of Science and Industry".In 2012, the name was changed to "Science Museum Group" (as it is known today) and in the same year,the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester joined the Group.

Even from this condensed version of Science Museum Group's history, it can be noticed that the current the Science Museum, London was once closely connected to arts (and in particular applied arts) and that it has been transformed into a multi-site museum network under the management of the Board of Trustees. Under the National Heritage Act 1983, the Board of Trustees bear statutory duties to establish the Science Museum Group's policy, review performance, and endorse appointments to key management positions[1]. Science Museum Group is currently described by the UK government as "an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport".

The curatorial project under discussion in this paper can be further contextualized by referring to Science Museum Group's current vision and the Science Museum Group's report Inspiring Future Strategic Priorities 2017-2030, the section Extend Our International Reach explicitly maps out the goal of establishing global partners and establishing the group as an international organization by enhancing international cooperation on research and lending, offering more touring exhibitions to diversify the profile of visitors, promoting digital outreach, and sustaining and creating engagement initiatives. What is also stressed in the action plan is to "undertake market analysis for designated regions and activities,and initiate new collaborations accordingly; China will be the first priority".[2]

Actions have already been taken to implement the above strategies. One noticeable example is the museum's temporary exhibition "Illuminating India:5 000 Years of Science and Innovation", held during October 2017 to April 2018. The exhibition features India's contribution to science, technology, and mathematics and is put on display in parallel with a photography exhibition "Illuminating India: Photography 1957-2017". The timing of the temporary exhibition was carefully planned to commemorate 70 years of the independence of India and to be part of the British Council's UK/India Year of Culture.

It was also in 2017 that the Science Museum,London started to initiate collaborations with China(during that year, one coordinator was appointed at the Strategy and International Team to work specifically on liaising potential collaborations with China).

1 How the framework came into being

1.1 Narrative framework

At the end of July 2018, a 6 000 word report(excluding appendices) was completed as the main outcome of the five-month curatorial research project. The report features a narrative framework"Shaping China: Materials, Mobility and Transition".This framework is not itself an exhibition outline, but serves as a frame of reference for developing storylines of the emerging touring exhibition, as well as related public engagement initiatives, learning programmes and collaborative projects.