Four Independent Exhibitions Are Launched Simultaneously to Celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Opening of ZJAM
pubdate: 2019/8/9   author: zjam  source: zjam  click:

ZJAM was put into operation on August 9, 2009. To commemorate its 10th anniversary, a celebration was held on August 9th, 2019, at ZJAM. Four exhibitions planned independently by ZJAM were opened at the same time, namely “The Splendid Languages of Paper: Contemporary Art Exhibition on Chinese Paper-making Culture”, “My Painting Career: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Wu Guanzhong’s Birthday”, “A Loyal Heart of Art Education: Jiang Danshu and Modern Art Education”, and “Nanshan 138 Series Contemporary Art Promotion Project for Young Artists in Zhejiang: Li Qing’s Self-Cultivation”.

At the opening ceremony

Liang Pingbo, former vice chairman of the Zhejiang Provincial Committee of CPPCC; Chu Ziyu, secretary of the Party Group and director of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism (ZPDCT); Shen Caitu, former director of the ZPDCT; Bao Xianlun, chairman of the Zhejiang Calligraphers Association; Gao Shiming, vice president of the China Academy of Art (CAA); Hu Xiaohan, director of Zhejiang People’s Fine Arts Publishing House; Hu Chaodong, director of the Office of the ZPDCT; Shi Ying, deputy director of the Art Division of the ZPDCT; Kong Guoqiao, deputy dean of the School of Painting and Art of the CAA; Fang Limin, secretary of the School of Painting and Art of the CAA; Zhang Minjie, deputy director of the Printmaking Art Committee of the China Artists Association; Yan Changyuan, editor-in-chief of the Art Weekly of China Culture Daily; Xie Mu, executive editor-in-chief of Yachang.com; Qian Cheng and Yu Liangfeng, deputy curators of the ZJAM; Di Lixin, member of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Party Committee and chairman of the CPPCC of Liyang City, Jiangsu Province; Cui Wenmin, deputy director of the People’s Congress of Liyang City, as well as over 300 representatives of artists, donors, journalists and audiences from all over the country attended the celebration and the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was hosted by Du Qun, secretary of the General Party Branch and deputy curator of ZJAM.

Chu Ziyu, secretary of the Party Group and director of the ZPDCT, delivering a speech

Chu Ziyu, secretary of the Party Group and director of the ZPDCT, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He said that the ZJAM is an important public cultural facility and General Secretary Xi Jinping personally selected the site, determined the program, and commenced the construction when he worked in Zhejiang. After ten years of hard work, ZJAM has developed into an important cultural propaganda window in the province. It is an important part of the cultural service system and has contributed to the construction of Zhejiang as a major cultural province. In 2015, it was rated as a national key art museum. In 2016, it was awarded as one of the first demonstration units of volunteer service with Lei Feng as the model among national public cultural facilities. Its 10 exhibitions and public education activities have been awarded as outstanding projects by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism since its opening. Over the past ten years, ZJAM has always adhered to the principle of “Letting art serve the people and the socialism” and the philosophy of “Focusing on the Contemporary, Reviewing the History, Rooting in Zhejiang, Facing the World”. It fully performs the service function, effectively expands new areas where people can enjoy cultural benefits, keep strengthening collection construction, vigorously implements the projects of “Centenary Cultural History Review” and “Centenary Calligraphy and Painting Solicitation”, and establishes a unique collection system. However, glory is the past, and more progress is waiting ahead. Secretary Chu hoped that ZJAM would fully play its role at the propaganda and cultural front and take the lead in assuming the responsibility of holding up the banner, gathering the people, educating the young, developing cultural undertakings, and building a good image under the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial Government in the new era and new journey. He also put forward several suggestions for ZJAM. Firstly, it should insist on improving its political position. Secondly, it should adhere to high-level development. Thirdly, it should uphold integrity and dare to innovate. Secretary Chu finally wished a complete success to the commemorative exhibitions of ZJAM for its 10th anniversary of opening.

Ying Jinfei, curator of ZJAM, delivering a speech

Ying Jinfei, curator of the ZJAM, recalled its development over the past ten years. He said that ZJAM is a cultural highland in the province built by General Secretary Xi Jinping when he worked in Zhejiang. Since its opening ten years ago, it has adhered to the correct guidance of General Secretary Xi’s socialist literary thoughts in the new era, is inspired by the diverse and innovative spirit of Zhejiang, and makes unremitting commitment to the general picture of the national cultural construction. It carefully plans branded exhibitions, actively introduces high-quality art, steadily constructs a collection system and an academic research system with Zhejiang characteristics, solidly designs a public art education network, effectively develops new areas where people can enjoy cultural benefits, and practically improve its public cultural service capabilities. Over the past ten years, it has received more than 6 million visitors, held more than 500 exhibitions of various types, maintained more than 25,000 collections, and organized more than 300 academic events and more than 2,000 public education events. Ying Jinfei said that ZJAM has been devoted to its exhibition system construction based on its own accumulation and development conditions in recent years. At the same time, it has adopted a “deep curation” innovation model and an all-round modern “organic museum” construction model that integrates “curation — creation — exhibition — collection — exchange” around the Chinese excellent traditional culture. It has effectively expanded its comprehensive influence and innovation growth in the fields of art, community and humanity.

Chen Qi, a representative and professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, delivering a speech

Professor Chen Qi indicated in his speech that ZJAM has made great achievements in recent years. In spite of a short history, it has been a star museum in China due to the hard work of successive curators. In particular, it has planned a series of large-scale branded exhibitions in recent years, such as “Printmaking of Mountains and Lakes” and “Millennium Watercolor Printmaking”. “Millennium Watercolor Printmaking” was a systematic review of the development of Chinese watercolor printmaking for a thousand years. It was a large-scale pilgrimage to the Chinese watercolor printmaking that has had a profound impact on the printmaking and academic circles both at home and abroad. As one of the four major commemorative exhibitions, “The Splendid Languages of Paper” is designed around “paper”, an ancient object and one of the four great inventions in China. It, together with “Millennium Watercolor Printmaking”, are good media to spread the Chinese excellent culture and the traditional oriental wisdom. Introducing Chinese excellent traditional cultures to the international community is an important academic idea of ZJAM. “The Splendid Languages of Paper” is not just an exhibition, but a milestone in curatorial thinking. It will definitely promote the development of Chinese paper art. Curator Ying expressed his sincere gratitude to the curation and exhibition teams for their hard work on behalf of the participating artists.

Jiang Shukai, representative of donors, delivering a speech

Jiang Shukai, representative of donors, mentioned in his speech that he put 30 calligraphy and paintings works created by his father, Jiang Danshu, which had been originally collected by his family, as well as over 60 manuscripts and works, including Master Hongyi’s original “Epitaph of the Mother Jiang Qiangtai” (《姜母强太夫人墓志铭》) and its initial rubbing, under the “custody” of ZJAM in 2007. This was a pioneering event in the collection solicitation in the early days of ZJAM and created a precedent among national art museums. Over the past 12 years, ZJAM has held two exhibitions for these collections. In this spring, in order to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the museum, Mr. Jiang again sorted out 326 pieces of calligraphy and paintings works and letters kept by Jiang Danshu, and donated all of them, together with those “under custody”, to ZJAM. He also donated a government award to Hangzhou Normal University, where his father once studied. After the speech, Ying Jinfei issued a donation certificate to Jiang Shukai.

Du Qun, secretary of the General Party Branch and deputy curator of ZJAM, hosting the opening ceremony

Ying Jinfei presenting a donation certificate to Jiang Shukai

A group photo of the distinguished guests at the opening ceremony

A group photo of ZJAM staff

After the opening ceremony, the four major exhibitions, namely “The Splendid Languages of Paper: Contemporary Art Exhibition on Chinese Paper-making Culture”, “My Painting Career: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Wu Guanzhong’s Birthday”, “A Loyal Heart of Art Education: Jiang Danshu and Modern Art Education”, and “Nanshan 138 Series Contemporary Art Promotion Project for Young Artists in Zhejiang: Li Qing’s Self-Cultivation”, were launched at the same time.

In addition, a “Seminar on the Splendid Languages of Paper” was held at 10 a.m. on August 9, 2019. At the seminar, participating artists Chen Qi, Li Hongbo, Shan Qianhua, Hu Qinwu, Jia Shanguo, Ewa Latkowska, Song Junsheng, Chen Linggang, Barbara Mydlak, Ma Hongfa, Qiu Jichuan, Li Yahui, Tang Zhengwei, Zhang Xiaoxue and Chen Fenwan participated in discussions.

To support the commemorative exhibitions that celebrated the 10th anniversary of the museum, ZJAM also provided commemorative cakes and gift exchange tickets for the audience on the day of opening. It joins hands with DUSHIKUAIBAO to launch an art program named “Wanyuqianyan”, collecting wishes of people from all walks of life and putting them on paper. Everyone has the chance to get involved during the opening hours. ZJAM also names the birthday month of the 10th anniversary as “August of Wu Guanzhong”. A children’s workshop around themes about Wu Guanzhong is run every week in August in the Children’s Art World on the 3rd floor. During the opening hours, a 7/24 “Wu Guanzhong DIY Bar” is available, and interested visitors may make an appointment through ZJAM Membership.

Here is an introduction to the exhibitions commemorating the 10th anniversary:

“The Splendid Languages of Paper: Contemporary Art Exhibition on Chinese Paper-making Culture” is a themed exhibition under the series of “Oriental Wisdom”, an independent curatorial brand from ZJAM. This project was funded by the China National Arts Fund for communication and promotion purposes in 2018. Centering round “paper” as a long-standing traditional Chinese cultural medium, the exhibition deeply explains the symbiotic experience of “paper culture” in its contribution to the revolution of Chinese civilization over more than one thousand years. It offers insight into the meaning of inheritance and enhances national confidence. When the exhibition is put on, nearly 40 important artists from home and abroad who are active in the field of contemporary international art are invited to come with their new art works that are beautiful, poetic, touching or creative. These works include not only easel paintings and sculptures, but also rich new media art languages such as installations and videos. It is worth noting that a large-scale public interactive origami activity named “Wanyuqianyan” is also launched in conjunction with the exhibition to allow visitors to deeply experience the new contemporary connotations of Chinese traditional paper culture.

“My Painting Career: Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Wu Guanzhong’s Birthday” is divided into The Oil Painting and Ink Painting World, The Sketching and Calligraphy, and the Works of Wu Guanzhong’s Teachers and Friends in three exhibition halls. The exhibits are 130 works and other collections donated by Wu Guanzhong and his family to ZJAM. Wu Guanzhong graduated from Hangzhou National Art College and started his artistic career in Zhejiang. As early as in December 2009, he donated 56 of his paintings and 16 of his art collections to repay the kindness of his alma mater and support the collection construction of ZJAM. In August 2010, Wu Guanzhong passed away. In November, ZJAM held the “East Meets West: Wu Guanzhong’s Art Retrospective Exhibition”. His son Wu Keyu donated 48 of his important sketched works about “A Trip to Yunnan” (《云南行》) to ZJAM, making it the museum that collects the most works by Wu Guanzhong in the country. Wu Guanzhong once said, “If you want to visit me, just have a look at my works because I live in them.” “If you miss me, come and visit my exhibition!” During this exhibition, ZJAM invites domestic research experts committed to Wu Guanzhong to hold special lectures, act as guides and volunteers, and host various promotional activities to publicize Wu Guanzhong’s artistic achievements and cherish the artist who made outstanding contributions to Chinese contemporary art.

“A Loyal Heart of Art Education: Jiang Danshu and Modern Art Education” is also a project included in the Exquisite Collection Exhibition Season among National Art Museums under the Support the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2019. Jiang Danshu was a pioneer of art education in China. His students were all over the country, including Pan Tianshou, Feng Zikai, Lai Chusheng, and Zheng Wuchang. Before the opening of ZJAM, his son Jiang Shukai put more than 100 of his works and literature “under custody” of ZJAM in December. In this spring, Jiang Shukai once again donated 326 of his father’s works and collections, including his calligraphy and painting works, works by his teachers and friends, and his letters with other celebrities, along with those under custody, to ZJAM. This donation project was a gratifying achievement in the collection solicitation initiative of ZJAM and provided new experience in collection construction.

“Li Qing’s Self-Cultivation” is part of “Nanshan 138 Series Contemporary Art Promotion Project for Young Artists in Zhejiang”, a project independently planned by ZJAM. It is intended to encourage young artists to develop deep thought and artistic innovation on social realities and cultural innovation. It can actively broad the humanistic vision of artistic creation, demonstrate the dialogue space and function of ZJAM in contemporary art and culture with a more open and inclusive attitude, and promote the construction of a contemporary art development mechanism for the young population in Zhejiang. Since 2018, four young artists have been supported to host their personal exhibition which had an impact on the art world.

The passage of the decade only makes us to know each other better. On August 9th ten years ago, ZJAM was opened with high profile. “It was storming outside, but it felt like spring inside that day.” Today, the 10th anniversary was celebrated with a typhoon again. We gather with our guests to celebrate the thriving culture and the innovative development of fine arts in Zhejiang and a better future for ZJAM under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era! We will stay true to our original intention and bear in mind our mission. ZJAM will firmly adhere to the “Four Consciousnesses”, strengthen the “Four Self-confidences”, resolutely practice “Two Maintenances” and play an active role as a national key art museum to promote the cultural prosperity and development of Zhejiang according to the requirements and deployments of the ZPDCT.

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