Last November, crowds gathered at the newly opened Shenzhen Bay Culture Square – a series of futuristic pebble-shaped exhibition buildings clustered in the Chinese city’s Houhai financial district. Many stood near the waterfront watching a French aerial theater troupe soaring through the sky in parachute-like red skirts. It’s symbiotic,’ says Tim Marlow, the director of the Design Museum, of the three-year alliance (the Design Museum and the Tate have separate partnerships with Shenzhen Bay Culture Square). Shenzhen Bay Culture Square is one of a growing number of museums entering long-term international partnerships that extend beyond one-off loans and traveling shows. Asian museums and foundations, especially, are increasingly shaping curatorial conversations within the region and globally, while new models of art-institutional exchange are emerging in the Global South.