The First Press Conference for “Boundless Encounters — The 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art” Is Held at ZJAM
pubdate: 2019/4/27   author: zjam  source: zjam  click:

At the press conference for “Boundless Encounters — The 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art”

“The Press Conference for Boundless Encounters — The 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art” was held at ZJAM on April 25 at 14:00. Officials and guests attending the conference included: Chen Yongyi, deputy director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism (“ZPDCT”); Luo Xianyue, deputy inspector of Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles (“ZFLAC”) and vice chairman and secretary general of Zhejiang Artists Association; Shi Hui, founder and art director of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, and professor and doctoral supervisor of China Academy of Art (“CAA”); Zhao Feng, curator of the China National Silk Museum; Yu Xuhong, executive director of the CAA Art Museum; Feng Boyi, chief curator, art critic and independent curator; Wang Xiaosong, co-curator and art critic; Liu Gang, co-curator and youth curator; Huang Yan, deputy dean and associate professor of the Department of Fiber Art, School of Sculpture and Public Art, CAA. The press conference was hosted by Ying Jinfei, curator of ZJAM. The representatives of the main organizer and the curation team delivered speeches successively.

“Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art” is an international exhibition project jointly initiated by the CAA and ZJAM and co-organized by the ZPDCT, the ZFLAC, and the CAA. The first Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art was unveiled under the theme of “Fiber Visions” in 2013; the second Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, themed “Weaving & Me”, launched global and local dialogues through the multi-media approach of fiber art in 2016. The 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art in 2019 is supported by a curation team in which Shi Hui serves as art director, Feng Boyi as the chief curator, and Wang Xiaosong, Liu Gang, Huang Yan and Kodama Kanazawa (Japan). The exhibition adopts the theme of “Boundless Encounters” to present the ecological changes in fiber art creation around the globe and draw the boundaries of fiber art therefrom. “Boundless Encounters” refers to the metaphysical cross-media creation of fiber art beyond boundary constraints, which suggests that the purpose of fiber art to detach from undetermined messy entanglement in the real world and move across unknown boundaries in a continuous state of experiment as it is intertwined in the global context.

The exhibition will still include the exhibition spaces of the ZJAM, the China National Silk Museum and the CAA Art Museum, each of which has a different focus. ZJAM will hold feature exhibitions that present recent new trends of fiber art creation in the world in the form of group exhibitions. The participating artists will, through their sensitivity to the age and future foresight, construct new dimensions of fiber art in inheriting and transforming traditional cultures in the modern times; they will expand the boundless intervention of fiber art to the physical community and daily life; they will also show the extra-daily leading role of fiber art in the social fashion life in the consumer culture. In particular, the new exploration of the languages of fiber art through high-tech and new media attempts to break the limitation of traditional simple fiber media, with an view to build multidimensional links among different media such as digital fiber, smart fabrics, digital weaving and bio-fiber in the present and future trends of fiber art creation. At the same time, the selected works should show artists’ keen responses to new materials, techniques and topics of the times, as well as a revisit to fiber art. They are expected to explore the form and mechanism of fiber art as a way of thinking, in addition to its attributes of media material and artistic language. As a form of thinking and a mechanism of action. The feature exhibitions will be divided into different sub-units, including the works of two designers/artists who are well-known in the East and the West. They are known for their defining characteristics of almost completely different (or even opposite) attitudes and approaches towards the fiber language. The exhibitions will juxtapose these contradictory topics in order to draw attention to the importance and integrity of topics about fiber, as well as the complex, serious and day-to-day relationship between creativity that human assiduously pursues and its self-preservation and destruction. Since its inception, Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art has maintained a tradition of showing a case study and exhibition of an artist who has made important achievements in the field of fiber art creation. The artist for this triennial is Yin Xiuzhen. Seven of her works will be displayed for seven days at the CAA Art Museum. The China National Silk Museum will build a special exhibition about fiber materials in the exhibition space and analyzes the forms of fiber materials. The exhibition is not confined to a certain type, material or language style. It includes masterpieces of high-profile artists, as well as a number of new works created for the exhibition and special display literature.

Ying Jinfei, curator of ZJAM, delivering a speech

At the press conference, Ying Jinfei, curator of ZJAM, said that the 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art would be held at a different time from its two predecessors. The first triennial in 2013 and the second one in 2016 were both started in September, but this triennial will last for more than 70 days from November 26, 2019 to February 10, 2020. It will span the Spring Festival and becomes the longest exhibition ever. It is also special in another way. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the ZJAM, which was opened in 2009. ZJAM has prepared a series of commemorative exhibitions, including a special exhibition named “The Minds and All Being: Zhejiang Spirit in the Age of Discovery” which has been launched, followed by “Paper Polish Art: Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Paper Culture”, “Glory: Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China and Art Exhibition for the 10th Anniversary of the Zhejiang Art Museum”, and “Art Exhibition Celebrating the Centenary of the Birth of Wu Guanzhong”. “The 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art” is the finale of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of ZJAM.

Shi Hui, founder and art director of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, and professor and doctoral supervisor of the CAA

Next, Shi Hui, founder and art director of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, reviewed the development history of the event on behalf of the organizing committee. She said: Hangzhou is an ancient home of silk, a major textile province in China, and the birthplace of contemporary Chinese fiber art. In 1986, the famous Bulgarian artist Maryn Varbanov founded the Wanman Wall Hanging Institute at the then Zhejiang Academy of Art, the first research institute of contemporary fiber art in China. The institute laid a very solid foundation for the rise of Chinese fiber art today. In 2013, the first Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art was initiated by the CAA and co-organized by ZHAM. The first Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, which was themed “Fiber Visions”, introduced fiber art to the public and explained the multidimensional thinking and expression in fiber as an important force in contemporary art creation. The event tried to construct creative concepts of contemporary fiber art from culture, communication, criticism, innovation, industry and other perspectives. An international academic seminar on the theme of “Fiber Visions” was held. The first triennial attracted 45 artists from 16 countries around the world, and 186 works were displayed. The 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art was an important exhibition project during the G20 Summit. Under the theme of “Weaving & Me”, this triennial traced the source of fiber art and further highlighted the local system of fiber art during its globalization development process. In particular, local creations based in Hangzhou and Zhejiang strengthened the connections of fiber art to the community and local industries. The exhibition also included literature and education exhibitions of different themes and an international academic seminar around the theme of “fabric thinking”. This second triennial received works by 66 artists from 20 countries.

Chen Yongyi, deputy director of the Art Division of the ZPDCT, delivering a speech

Chen Yongyi, deputy director of the Art Division of the ZPDCT, summed up the profound influence of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art on the city of Hangzhou: Firstly, the exhibition changed the public understanding of fiber materials and brought fiber into public notice as an art form, which was a great change brought about by the fiber art triennial; secondly, Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art has contributed a lot to the cultural improvement in the city of Hangzhou; thirdly, the curation team attached great importance to the role of fiber art in constructing contemporary art and the exhibition inspired us to explore cultural construction in modern times in different ways. “Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art is a premium and high-level international exhibition project independently planned by our province. It has attracted extensive attention at home and abroad, and has also been well received in the academic circle since its inception,” she stressed.

Luo Xianyue, deputy inspector of the ZFLAC and vice chairman and secretary general of Zhejiang Artists Association

Luo Xianyue, deputy inspector of the ZFLAC and vice chairman and secretary general of Zhejiang Artists Association, spoke on behalf of the ZFLAC. His speech could be summarized in three points: First, as a new organizer, the ZFLAC will work with the organizing committee in every possible way to make the triennial a success; second, Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art provides a success story in culture and art exchanges of the province and this exhibition is significant in terms of art itself, social development and other aspects; third, the triennial attracts works from all over the world and offers a chance for audience in Hangzhou to appreciate wonderful works of international artists and learn about the development of world art, which adds an important impetus to the creation of great works from Zhejiang art circles and can promote the advancement of our artistic creation with the times.

Zhao Feng, curator of the China National Silk Museum, delivering a speech

Zhao Feng, curator of the China National Silk Museum, as one of the organizers, and Yu Xuhong, curator of the CAA Art Museum, also indicated their speech that they would lend support to the hosting of Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art. Curator Yu Xuhong also pointed out that some of the foreign artists participating in Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art were members of La Biennale di Venezia. In this sense, Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, based on Hangzhou, expands the Chinese language in the field of contemporary art or speaks for certain topic about China through fiber visions. It is an exploration at the forefront of international art. The exhibition not only treats art media as a topic, but more importantly, it sees Hangzhou as an innovation base of contemporary culture. The exhibition has cultivated a number of young artists and has also promoted deep exchanges and interaction between peer curators. It is a very influential Hangzhou based contemporary culture exhibition brand that deeply integrates talent cultivation, exhibition planning, academic research and public social education.

Yu Xuhong, curator of the CAA Art Museum, delivering a speech

Finally, Mr. Feng Boyi, chief curator of the 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, elaborated on the curatorial concept of the exhibition on behalf of the curation team. After introducing the curation team, the seminar planning team and the theme “Boundless Encounters”, Mr. Feng Boyi also summarized three specific requirements for making an exhibition successful. First, an exhibition should tell a story about the status quo and ecology of creation. Take Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art as an example. It should present new changes in media, language and concept of fiber art that have arisen from 2016 to 2019. At least, the 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art should reflect some of the latest changes in the field of fiber art and creations around this subject matter at home and abroad. Secondly, the exhibition should inspire questions. Fiber art is prescriptive. The relationship between this medium and the community, the contemporary art system, globalization, and locality is also an issue that the exhibition should ponder about. Although an answer is not mandated, it is also important for the exhibition to revealing and presenting questions from the artists’ works. Finally, a good exhibition should predict a certain future trend in a certain field through displays. For example, what kind of trend is cast in Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art for the future? Can this exhibition shed light on such a trend or predict a certain future trend?

Feng Boyi, chief curator of the 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art, art critic and independent curator

“The Boundless Encounter — The 3rd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art” will be held from November 28, 2109 to February 10, 2020. During the opening ceremony of the event, an international academic seminar titled “Multidimensional Links of Fiber Art in the Field of Lines” will be held. The seminar will be curated by the chief curator Feng Boyi, the co-curator Wang Xiaosong, as well as Xu Jia and Assadour Markarov (Bulgaria), who were the curators for the 2nd Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art. “Line” is the most common material or expression form of fiber, but unlike the single “linear” dimension, this seminar focuses on exploring the potential of fiber to expand in “non-linear” fields and the extension of problem awareness boundaries brought about by the interaction between fiber and these fields.

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