14 new museums in ASEMUS in 2014

14 museums from Asia and Europe have joined the Asia-Europe Museum Network (ASEMUS) since January 2014. By being members of ASEMUS, they enable the network to achieve its objectives of promoting mutual understanding between the peoples of Asia and Europe through collaborative museum-based cultural activity and stimulating and facilitating the sharing and use of museum collections. The list of new member museums is as follows:

• Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Australia
• Helinä Rautavaara Museum, Finland
• Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Porcelain Collection, Dresden State Art Collections), Germany
• National Museum, India
• Seoul Museum of History, Korea
• Sungai Lembing Museum, Malaysia
• National Museum of Mongolia, Mongolia
• Lopez Museum and Library, Philippines
• Museo De La Salle, Philippines
• Museum Rietberg, Switzerland
• Museum Siam, Thailand
• Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia, Mahidol University, Thailand
• Vietnam Museum of Fine Arts, Vietnam
• Vietnamese Women's Museum, Vietnam

The profiles of new members are currently being added to the ASEMUS website. The network currently involves over 100 member museums in almost 40 different countries. Other museums are invited to submit their applications for ASEMUS membership. To be eligible, they should meet the following criteria:

• Be located in an ASEM member country
• Meet the ICOM definition of a museum
• Have collections which form part of the cultural heritage of Eurasia
• Be actively interested in linking Asia and Europe
• Be willing to give access to their registers and open up their collections for other member museums
• Acknowledge and respect the ICOM Code of Professional Ethics

The ASEMUS Secretariat looks forward to meeting new and old member museums at the 6th ASEMUS General Conference, which will be held in Vienna on 24-27 September. Set up in 2000, ASEMUS is a cross-cultural network of museums from Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) countries. It is led by the ASEMUS Executive Committee and supported by the ASEMUS Secretariat. For additional information about its aims, membership and governance, you are invited to visit ASEMUS website.