On September 21, 2017, as the initial shows of the 15th Asian Art Festival, “Multiple Spectacle – Art from Asia” and “Echo of Civilization – Beauty of Crafts” opened in Ningbo at the same time, narrating the “new Asian dream” together. The two exhibitions are jointly hosted by the Ministry of Culture of People’s Republic of China and Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government, co-organized by Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Ningbo Municipal People’s Government, Central Academy of Fine Arts, and China Arts and Entertainment Group, with Fan Di’an, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts serving as the academic chair. Ms. Liu Chunfeng and Ms. Yue Jieqiong respectively serve as curator of the “Multiple Spectacle – Art from Asia” and “Echo of Civilization – Beauty of Crafts”.

Wang Chen, Assistant to Director of the International Department at the Ministry of Culture, Fan Di’an, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Chen Chunmei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of China Arts and Entertainment Group, Ye Jing, Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Culture, Zhejiang Province, Wan Yawei, Standing Committee of Ningbo Municipal Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department of Municipal Party Committee, Zhang Aiqin, Secretary of Party Committee of Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Press of Ningbo attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Wang Jianyuan, Deputy Secretary-General of Municipal People’s Government of Ningbo presided over the ceremony.

The “Multiple Spectacle – Art from Asia” debuts in Ningbo Art Museum. On the theme of the exhibition “Multiple” – on the one hand, it represents multiple realities, on the other hand it also shows things that have continuously accumulated and reproduced. Economic globalization and global trade take us away from the dilemma of material scarcity, and the accumulation and reproduction of things that bring convenience to our lives. “Spectacle”, which is an attitude of the exhibition attempts to present and interpret, in the context of accumulation and constant reproduction, “spectacle” is a positive development, a high-energy superposition based on the process of urbanization, and also the artists’ reorganization with a magical significance and the addition of super power to the existing reality and materials.

The exhibition consists of three parts, it shows the progression on multiple dimensions of artists’ artistic creations. “Initial Image” features the works created using local cultural genes or related materials; “Super-space” mainly includes the use of globalization from the creation of the cultural context of works, showing a diverse, virtual, interactive image that is beyond reality; “Multipolar” focuses on the works that point to the future, through the research of the works that question the direction of art.

The exhibition invited 20 outstanding artists from 11 countries and regions in Asia, including Mioon and Choi Jeonghwa from Korea, He Wenjue, Aditya Novali from Indonesia and so on, who create installations and sculptures to showcase their ideas. They often use realistic symbols and ready-made materials to convey their meaning, through a variety of images on real life to describe social problems, and these images are artificial “second reality”, while these images also reflect things of the world. Sakarin Krue-On from Thailand, Jakapan Vilasineekul from Thailand, Prateep Suthathongthai from Thailand, and Khishigsuren Batdelger from Mongolia, whose works are new contemporary visual images, and also the characterization of traditional art language that transforms to contemporary art language; there are many works of artists appropriately reflecting the survival experiences of contemporary people losing flesh and with a mental wandering.

“Echo of Civilization – Beauty of Crafts” features 34 artists, including National Masters of Arts and Crafts, the inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, the scholars of the academy, and contemporary artists who are active in the international arena. Exhibits include jade, stones, metals, pottery, clothes, paper-cuts, wood carving, cloisonné, tie-dye and many other art materials and art forms.

The “Echo of Civilization” series is dedicated to exploring the relationship between traditional cultural resources and contemporary art creations. It launched the first exhibition of “Crossing Dunhuang” in 2016 and presented the second round entitled “Chinese Craftsmen” in the 600-year-old Imperial Ancestral Temple in the spring of 2017. “Beauty of Crafts” is held in the elegant and vibrant city of Ningbo, showing the collision and blend between the traditional craftsmen and contemporary ideas, with the echo of civilization to inspire innovation, to agglomerate ingenuity, paying tribute to the ancestors.

Text edited by Lin Jiabin, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Photo by Xu Xinli/CAFA