In 1969, President Georges Pompidou decided to provide France with a venue like no other: a centre for art and culture capable of housing both the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, with an international dimension, a large public library (the future Bpi), a centre for industrial creation and a centre for musical research and creation (Ircam), all together in one and the same building situated in the heart of the capital.

One of the key missions of the Centre Pompidou x West Bund Museum Project is to mirror and promote Chinese culture in the world, and bring culture from all around the globe to Chinese audiences as well, which is a new exploration of the cultural exchange between China and foreign cultures.

In this perspective, the Centre Pompidou and the West Bund Museum signed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2017. It was taken as the highest-level cultural cooperation project between China and France, and was included in the Joint Declaration between the People’s Republic of China and the French Republic in 2018. And in 2019, it opened to the public at the special moment of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 55th anniversary of the establishment of Sino-French diplomatic relations.

Over a five-year period, through the collaboration, the Centre Pompidou and West Bund Museum will have cultural programming whether in terms of museum exhibitions, seminars, performing art, educational activities or cultural outreach, with the aim of cultural and artistic exchanges between China and France. The semi-permanent exhibition and feature exhibitions will be presented to the public at the West Bund Museum in Shanghai; while at the same time several significant Chinese cultural and artistic projects with representative significance will be exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.