Hangzhou Triennial Of Fiber Art

In celebration of the 80th anniversary of China Academy of Art, the “Hidden Dragon & Crouching Tiger: 18 cases –An Exhibition of Chinese Experimental Art Education & Creative Works”, featuring several art academies in China and abroad, was opened at the Xiangshan Campus of CAA on March 24, 2008.

The “18 cases” is an invitational exhibition of 18 teaching programs from art academies in China and abroad. It gathered the most significant experimental program and manifested an advanced academic direction of contemporary art education. These cases are courageous enough to face up to the challenges and lay emphasis on the experimental motivation of ideological roots. The exhibition is a mirror of the over-30-year continuous efforts of art education reforms in China, of the unique understanding of social life and the fresh young vitality of the “post-80s” generation and of the interrelationship between different art academies, particularly in China. 18 different kinds of distinctive art experiments bear the objectives of 18 task teams. This exhibition is the expansion of Chinese contemporary art as well as a herald of art education in the future.

“18 cases” stand for 18 attitudes as well as 18 methods. Just as Xu Jiang (许江), the presidentof CAA said in the introduction: “ 18 is just a number, what makes sense is the value of the teaching plans themselves.” It’s true that the exhibition cannot display the panorama of all the art academies in Hong Kong, Macau, Tai Wan and Mainland China. Some experiments took an extreme way and when analyzing a target, they tended to backfire as they could not get a clear answer to the questions. Some experiments, though avoiding the mistake of being extreme and extensive and focusing on an intensive and specific study, came to an end because of the high “cost” such as knowledge, concepts and systems. Another kind of experiment concentrated on the increasingly catchy concept of Chinese image, taking advantage of the Chinese images embedded in the western world to get the initiative which has been always dominated by the west. “Chinese images are not sinicized images and also "not not" sinicized images.” They assume to gain the dominance by encroaching instead of using an aggressive strategy.

Life stream, criticalness and localization have become the most striking characteristics of the modern Chinese experimental art teaching. We will reflect on the tremendous turn of the visual art under the background of globalization and media technology revolution and discover the potential and future of the teaching and research of the modern Chinese experimental art.

The Eighteen Cases:
1. Fiber and Space Art Studio, Department of Sculpture, CAA.
Subject: Create Objects. Create mistakes (造物•造误)

2. Studio of Concrete Expression, Department of Oil Painting, CAA.
Subject: The Composition of Landscape Domain? Free Subject Creating (风景景域构成?自选主题创作)

3. Studio of Multidimensional Painting, Department of the Oil Painting, CAA.
Subject: The Perfect Match (金童玉女)

4. Department of Architecture, CAA
Subject: The Art Commune of CAA (国美艺术公社)

5. Department of Calligraphy, CAA
Subject: Research of Experimental Teaching of Modern Calligraphy (现代书法实验教学法研究)

6. Studio of Art in General, Department of the Experimental Art, CAA.
Subject: Portrait of Broken Bridge (断桥绘事)

7. Studio of Experimental Fine Arts, Department of Experimental Art, CAA.
Subject: Teaching Experiment of the Moving Images in the Context of Contemporary Art (活动影像在当代艺术语境中的教学实验)

8. Studio of Art in General, Department of Experimental Art, CAA
Subject: Pictures of Social Criticism and Practice (图像社会学批评与实践)

9. Studio of Art in General, Department of Experimental Art, CAA
Subject: A Survey of Tibet (西藏调查)

10.Department of Experimental Art, Central Academy of Fine Arts.
Subject: A Survey of Public Household Aesthetic (公众家庭审美)

11.The Fifth Studio, Department of Oil Painting, Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
Subject: the Optional Class of Contemporary Experimental Art (“当代艺术实验”选修课)

12. Department of Photography, Luxun Academy of Fine Arts.
Subject: Image Consciousness (影像自觉)

13. Department of Experimental Art, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts.
Subject: the Modern Symbol of Calligraphy (书法的当代符号精神), Replaced Space and Shape (置换的空间与造型)

14. School of Design, Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts.
Subject: New Folk Art (新民间艺术)

15. School of Digital Media, Shanghai School of Visual Art, Fudan University.
Subject: A Visit Here — A Survey of Wusongkou (到此一游——吴淞口调查报告)

16. Critical Intermedia Laboratory, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong.
Subject: Micro Narratives: An Inter-discipline Experiment about Video Art (微叙事∶一个有关录像创作的跨学科的实验)

17.Changzheng Visual Art Center.Subject: Yan'an Forum on Arts Education (延安艺术教育座谈会),
Yanchuan Primary and Middle School Paper Cutting Program (延川中小学剪纸艺术教育项目)

18. Chelsea College of Art and Design
Subject: Research Group of Subjectivity and Feminism (主观性与女性主义研究小组)