For the entrance to CAFA Degree Show 2020, please visit https://art2020.cafa.edu.cn/school_us/entrance.html.

Live Streaming Scene of Degree Show 2020 for Undergraduates of CAFA 

“Many surprises emerge from our graduation exhibition. First of all, after several years of study in this epoch of information, our graduating students show us a novel world through their art creations. By clicking the link to enter our online viewing museum, it is as if you have opened all the doors and seen the light, you will get a completely new experience which is different from what you have felt in a real art museum.”

—Gao Hong, Party Secretary of CAFA

“We have jointly undergone a chill in the spring air, but all the graduating students have burst out with the most tenacious vitality through their artistic creations. We have also experienced a difficult time when living in an isolated state, but the vitality that our students have created shows a vigorous atmosphere. During the CAFA Graduation Season 2020, the thesis presentations of senior year students celebrate their achievements and talent which also reflect the diligent endeavors of all the instructors.”

—Fan Di’an, President of CAFA 

Live Streaming Scene of the Degree Show 2020 for Undergraduates of CAFA

“Although we cannot meet everyone on the spot, we can walk together into the virtual online art museum specially forged for this exhibition while crossing all borders. Let’s find the achievements and talent of our final year students.” At 6:15 pm on June 15, 2020, CAFA Party Secretary Gao Hong, CAFA President Fan Di’an, Deputy President Su Xinping and representative teachers jointly participated in the live streaming of Masters’ Talks in front of the CAFA Art Museum. On this special occasion, the exhibition was unveiled to the public as the most precious academic gift prepared by CAFA for the graduates. 

View of Entrance

Then you have pursued art, now your dreams are fulfilled; You set sail from the other end and you realise blessings. During the 90 minutes before the show was unveiled, renowned teachers and masters of art have joined with the graduate representatives to carry out their original intention and strengthen the youth academics. By live streaming of round table talks, they have discussed topics including “innovation perspective and design thinking”, “new forms of creations” and “new trends of thesis presentation”, which jointly transformed the opening ceremony into a unique academic lecture hall. On the afternoon of the same day, over 230,000 spectators have watched the live streaming through the CCTV client-side, ART EXPRESS, Weibo, Baijiahao and Toutiao, they shared and testified to the smart opening of the online degree show. 

Round Table among Teachers and Students: 

Sharing “the Greatness Discovered in 2020”

The live streaming before the official opening of the exhibition began at 4:15 pm on June 15, professors such as Song Xiewei, Zhu Pei, Sun Tao, Yu Ding, Zhang Zikang, Ma Lu, Chen Qi, Li Jun, Liu Qinghe, Qiu Zhijie and related leaders in the teaching departments, together with representatives of professional teachers, were divided into three groups of guest speakers to sit in the live streaming room of CAFA, respectively with the themes on “Innovation Perspective and Design Thinking: Exploring the Direction of Design Education Trends Based on the Form and Content of Graduation Exhibitions in Colleges and Universities around the World”, “New Forms of Art Creations: The Changes of Art Creations under the Influence of Information and Technology”, “Redefinition and New Thinking: New Forms of Graduation Creations Triggered by Online Exhibitions”, they interacted online with representatives of graduates from various departments and schools and talked about the situation under the global context of COVID-19 pandemic and how to conduct thinking and exploration of the graduation creation.

The Roundtable Talk among Teachers and Students: Group I

Confronted with the graduation, the final year students of 2020 were caught off guard by the sudden outbreak of the pandemic. After a short period of “being at a loss,” they expelled the explosive power of “rebirth from desperation” and presented diversified graduation creations. They shared the unusual experiences of graduation creations during the pandemic period through the shared screen. 

View of SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

When introducing his ecological design work, Lu Baiyun from the School of Architecture said, “This time, I have realized the importance of the symbiotic relationship between man and nature.” Wang Jiaxing, from the Sculpture Department, described his experience of creation at home, “The difficulty in creating at home was that there were no tools. I’ve tried my best to buy or borrow tools, found ready-made products, even my mother’s pots and pans can be used, thus it can be said to be a creation born from the most difficult situation.”

View of PRINTMAKING DEPARTMENT

Li Baige, from the Printmaking Department, has a new understanding of his major from his creation, “From copperplate etching to painting, with the help of an iPad, digital prints are also connected in my creation. Printmaking is both traditional and flexible. I tried to combine printmaking with technology, combining technology with art and finally using digital printmaking to create, which is an exploration during the pandemic period.” 

View of OIL PAINTING DEPARTMENT

You Qinhuang, from Oil Painting Department, also held an exhibition at home, which attracted many local art lovers who visited the exhibition, and later one of his friends posted this “down-to-earth” exhibition online and it ranked high among the trending topics of Weibo, “I recorded the ordinary life of ordinary families during the pandemic period. My creation originated from this house, thus the exhibition is about it and it should return to this house, through painting I would like to observe the truth of the simple life in a special period and it might leave a special trace for this period.”

The Roundtable Talk among Teachers and Students: Group II

The 2020 Virtual Art Museum presents a different degree show, and how should the thesis presentations of undergraduates which account for the largest group, be brilliantly presented? Zhang Zikang, Director of CAFA Art Museum, said that in the past, physical exhibition halls would be restricted by space. Some classmates had a large number of works or a series and these might not be able to all be presented. The virtual exhibition hall breaks through the concept of “space.”

View of SCULPTURE DEPARTMENT 

In terms of viewing methods, the 3D virtual exhibition hall retains the viewing of the exhibition as in the past. We created virtual exhibition halls based on the real CAFA Art Museum; on the other hand, the online exhibition surpassed the original exhibition viewing method. When you click to enter, you will find another layer of space and you can develop your own in-depth interpretation, which expands our understanding of the concepts of space and museum.

The Roundtable Talk among Teachers and Students: Group III

The curatorial arrangement of this degree show features graduation creations by undergraduates, was “decentralized” to the faculties. The faculties each formed a curatorial team. They were ingenious and showed their respective abilities. They jointly presented their unique and diverse display effects to make it “a show above the rainbow.” 

View of SCHOOL OF DESIGN 

“Online graduation exhibitions have brought mandatory acceleration to design education. On the one hand, on the technical level, we have to embrace the design methods and working methods brought by emerging technologies. On the other hand, it is reflected in the acceleration of educational content. Among thesis presentations, our teachers and students have perceived the changes brought about by these two accelerations together,” said Wang Xuanzheng, Director of Means of Transportation, School of Design. “The most impressive experience brought by this pandemic is, education equity,” according to Zhou Zishu, Director of Social Design, the pandemic has brought a large number of courses and exhibitions online, so that anyone who has no chance to be involved in the teaching of CAFA can understand us. 

View of SCHOOL OF EXPERIMENTAL ART

This exhibition is not just a virtual exhibition hall, it is more like creating a virtual mirrored space. I hope that after the pandemic, this space will still exist, and we can create a larger art education community with more students, with society. “Although the exhibition method has gone online, our focus is still on the community of human destiny,” Zhang Xinrong, Deputy Dean of the School of Design, said that even in such a special period, maybe we can make better designs. We are facing the common destiny of mankind and we are facing a common issue of human survival in the future.

View of SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES

Li Jun, the Dean for the School of Humanities, expressed his wish to the class of 2020, “All greatness is accompanied by another greatness, that is, the greatness of discovery.”

For the entrance to CAFA Degree Show 2020, please visit https://art2020.cafa.edu.cn/school_us/entrance.html.

Text by Song Manqing and Zhao Jing

Photo by Xu Xinli/CAFA Publicity Office

Translated by Sue, edited by Sue and Emily/CAFA ART INFO