efore it was publicly announced in February 2023 that X Zhu-Nowell would take the reins as artistic director at Shanghai’s Rockbund Art Museum (RAM), the thirty-four year old curator asked members of the local art community what they thought about the private institution. “The museum was perceived as being out of reach, which had to do with the fact that the RAM was showing very established international artists,” Zhu-Nowell told me over delicious coconut milk iced-coffees in one of the stylish cafés inside the Rockbund’s compound. Gaining this insight helped solidify Zhu-Nowell’s vision for the institution: the RAM initially opened in 2010, when there were only a few museums devoted to international
