The 2nd Art and Science Innovation Salon Held Successfully

In the morning, AADTHU experts, accompanied by ZHAO Chao, Deputy Dean of AADTHU and Deputy Director of TASA, visited the campus of TASA and West Coast New Area Planning Hall. The visit enables the experts to have a full and in-depth knowledge of West Coast New Area where TASA is located, and make preparations for the subsequent salon. 

In the afternoon, the 2nd Arts and Science Innovation Salon was officially started. Consistent with the academic level and insights of the 1st salon, the experts were active in giving opinions and providing recommendations. The results of collision of thoughts in the top-class academic gathering will surely become a precious wealth for the future development of TASA. 

❏ AADTHU experts visit West Coast New Area Planning Hall

❏ AADTHU experts visit West Coast New Area Planning Hall

❏ AADTHU experts visit Advanced Manufacturing and Design Prototype Laboratory

At the beginning of the Salon, Mr. ZHAO Chao systemically described the construction and development concepts of TASA, and stressed the development positioning is closely related to AADTHU and ASRC. On one hand, AADTHU as an education institution focuses on the disciplinary construction and talent training, and the establishment of TASA in Qingdao will promote the pairing of research results in the arts and design disciplines of AADTHU with industries, and the further incubation into new products, new brands and new services; on the other hand, TASA shall leverage the cross-disciplinary advantages of AADTHU and ASRC, to break the disciplinary barriers of Tsinghua University, and promote the integrated innovation of arts and science, synergic innovation between universities and industries, transformative innovation of enterprises and industries and linking innovation of talent training modes and social development requirements. 

❏ Deputy Director ZHAO Chao points out TASA’s advantage of integrating industry, university and institute

Professor LI Yanzu highly valued the existing work results of TASA, saying, in particular, its development plan is fully based on the actual conditions and its innovative modes represent the future development orientation of AADTHU and the design community to some extent, able to better contribute to national economic construction and social development, and better fulfill the great goal for creating the happy and good life for the people set forth by General Secretary Xi Jinping. Currently we are facing the sudden epidemic and difficulties, but with our strong education system and advantages in talent reserve, and by carrying forward the fine traditions of The Central Academy of Arts and Design, we believe AADTHU and TASA can surely overcome difficulties, lead the tide of the times and realize the comprehensive development. The design education develops in diversified forms in China, so TASA shall scientifically develop its 5-Year Plan, to lead the development of design education in China and also ensure AADTHU stands at the new starting point for development in the new era, with important significance. In addition, the "Trinity" development mode of AADTHU, ASRC and TASA will provide more space for thinking and creation of teachers and students, to stimulate more enthusiasm for arts and design. Professor LI Yanzu further recommends TASA to expand the education related services, and seek for cooperation with national Ministry of Culture and Tourism, arts funds and other external resources, to jointly promote the development of TASA and the design industry.     

Professor LI Dangqi applauded the excellent results of TASA in the current construction and planning, and he pointed out the founding of TASA is the 4th important milestone in the development history of AADTHU and an important node in its current development. TASA provides a very good cooperation platform for the cross-linkage of disciplines in the university. At the beginning of construction, TASA has "seized the opportunities and took the quick action", and the following stage shall be "to get the initial results and be confident", so TASA shall enhance the cooperation with schools and department of Tsinghua University, to provide new opportunities and new ideas for the development of AADTHU. 

On the development strategy of TASA, Professor LI Dangqi also put forward three suggestions. First, strengthen the communication and cooperation with AADTHU and even the top alumni of Tsinghua University in various fields by organizing alumni gatherings and other activities, so as to truly use the talent advantages of Tsinghua University for the development of TASA. Second, conduct research and visit various off-site academies of Tsinghua University to learn from each other, so as to promote the sustainable and healthy operation and development of TASA. Third, further integrate resources and strengthen cooperation with relevant enterprises and industries. Experts of AADTHU should also actively help TASA in inviting and introducing high-quality industry resources, so as to contribute to the high-end and professional development of TASA. Currently, TASA has a comprehensive development plan, but it still needs further analysis to find the top priorities in the future development, so that TASA can truly become a leader in the development of the industry in ten years. 

Professor WANG Jianzhong was greatly encouraged by the current construction achievements of TASA. In combination with the construction of the workshops and labs of TASA, he proposed that the development of TASA shall be forward-looking in terms of transformation, not only using the academic characteristics of AADTHU for reference, which is not simple duplication, but also being enterprising and innovative according to the needs of the times. At the same time, TASA shall carry out bold mechanism innovations in the management system to make up for the limitation of horizontal development of the current disciplines. 

Professor CHEN Hui (Sculpture Department) said that TASA is an extension of the AADTHU's external development and the experimental field of transformation, with broad space for development, which should be different from the traditional model of the AADTHU. For example, new technologies and new materials may be applied for constructing the sculpture workshop to create a new-technology and new-material sculpture creation and processing base. Also,we can proceed with the design requirements of civil-military integration to create a broader extension space for art and design. Public art is indispensable in every city. TASA should first base itself in Qingdao and establish a public art development base that meets the needs of Qingdao people, so as to play a demonstrative role in the construction of public art throughout the country. In addition, the inheritance and innovation of traditional crafts are indispensable in the teaching purport of AADTHU. TASA may help cultivate art and design talents as a supplement, so that traditional culture and art can be more deeply understood by the public. 

Associate Professor YUAN Bo praised the planning of TASA for its positive role in promoting the combination of various majors of AADTHU with industries, urban ecological development, and the human settlement construction. Visual communication design is closely related to the incubation and development of enterprises. It is believed that there will be opportunities to participate in the cooperation with TASA in the future. 

Exploration and innovation in the traditional culture is an important research subject of art and design in recent years. The front-end training is very important, but the combination with business and industry on the rear end is the important power for sustainable development of traditional art and design. TASA should carry out in-depth research and development in this area to a further extent to transform the traditional culture and art into actual output value, thus bringing the real benefit to art inheritors and the public, and achieving the sustainable development of the traditional art. In terms of aesthetic education research, we may bring more ideas of beauty into our life, carry out aesthetic education extensively, change the aesthetic concepts of entrepreneurs, thus improving the importance of art and design in the field of production. In addition, on the basis of the artist residency program, TASA should also provide more designer assistance plans to help artists and designers achieve industrial transformation. In the future, TASA may introduce, deepen and transform their artistic design achievements to a further extent, so as to realize a virtuous cycle of the design incubation industry. 

Professor ZHAO Jian pointed out that the establishment of TASA is a great development opportunity for AADTHU. It marks the establishment of a platform for AADTHU to break away from the constraints and make great achievements. The planning of TASA also reflects the patriotism of Tsinghua people and their macro vision of thinking for the development of the country. TASA still has a long way to go. At present, the development of some fields in China are constrained in all aspects. I believe that TASA will be able to grow into an international top academic research base in the future that will create international leading scientific research model and industrial innovation, and solve the major bottlenecks for the country. After decades of development, TASA has accumulated abundant strength and will realize its real take-off through the establishment of TASA. TASA can drive the innovative research and development of industry, promote the integrated development of art and science, and benefit the education and research of art and design, which are the missions that TASA should assume in the future. Art and science should be coordinated and unified. They have the same origin with mutual effect. Art itself contains certain scientific theoretical basis, so they should not be separated in the future teaching and development. 

❏ Professor ZHAO Jian states the national mission assumed by TASA

Professor JIA Jingsheng was shocked at the architectural planning and construction speed of TASA. He also stated that the strategic height of TASA should be aligned with Tsinghua University to undertake certain national missions in the future. Firstly, the development of TASA follows the trend of the combining the art and science, and it has become the mainstream of industrial development that art and science leads the way of life; Secondly, TASA has a high starting point and is able to combine its own orientation with the mainstream trend of world development; Thirdly, TASA can facilitate the development of AADTHU in turn; Fourthly, TASA can make up for the shortcomings in the combination of higher education and industry, and further drive the development of design education in China. At the same time, Professor JIA Jingsheng also suggested that good policies and models are the basis for attracting outstanding enterprises and talents, which is an issue to be further considered by TASA. In addition, for the integrated development of art and science, we should know what can be done and what cannot be done. Not only the cross-disciplinary cooperation model among the arts disciplines should be expanded, but the research resources of Tsinghua University should be properly utilized. Only by relying on the university and having a global view, can TASA get a broader space for development both horizontally and vertically. 

Associate Professor YU Lizhan said that it was not easy for the preparation team of TASA to complete so much construction of in just one and a half years, despite the epidemic situation. The joint development of industry, university, and research institute is a good subject in itself. It is hoped that TASA introduces students to participate in the project construction, so that students can be trained in the project process, and talent incubation can be completed during the construction and the comprehensive abilities of the students can be improved in all aspects so as to promote the development of design education. After the completion of the project, the participating teams in the project have accumulated enough experience to be incubated into companies or continue to join in the construction of other projects. TASA may take this opportunity to establish a training base where the abilities of the students can be fully improved through their practices in practical projects. 

Associate Professor ZHANG Xing agrees with the construction mode and thinking of TASA, and he also put forward suggestions in respect of the development of the ceramic industry. The ceramic industry has great development potential in the world. It is hoped that TASA, as a communication platform for discipline construction and enterprise development, can promote the coordinated development of talent cultivation direction in the school and actual requirements of the industry. As the traditional ceramic industry is facing transformation, TASA may use its high-quality scientific research resources to establish a modern ceramic design and processing center to provide new reference for the innovative development of the ceramic field in China and gain a say in such industry. 

SU Zhipeng, an associate researcher, pointed out that Shandong province is vigorously promoting the policy of "investment promotion and talent attraction" to attract talents from all over the country to settle down in Shandong. The establishment of TASA will undoubtedly help Shandong to better gather talents, reflecting the determination and concern of leaders at all levels of Shandong province. It is hoped that TASA can be turned into a demonstration education base to extensively carry out the aesthetic education activities for the high-end talents. In addition, TASA is also a platform with a very high starting point, which may invite senior leaders of Tsinghua University and high-level leaders from CPC Shandong Provincial Committee and Provincial Government to discuss major issues and further promote the development of TASA. 

Associate Professor YE Jian was very pleased with the establishment of TASA, and gave suggestions on the future exhibition planning of TASA. With a broad art and design result resources, AADTHU may set up exhibition areas in TASA to display its frontier research results in various fields by multimedia and other forms, thus demonstrating the development strength of AADTHU. Carry out itinerant exhibition annually in Tsinghua Art Museum to externally promote and fully explain the relationship between art and science, and share the beauty that art brings to life. In the future, the research results of the teachers of AADTHU may be displayed through art gallery and other forms to create an artwork exchange center with Qingdao as its core and radiating the peripheral area, so as to achieve self-realization and lay foundation for sustainable development. 

Associate Professor GU Xin pointed out that the visual design field is closely related to other fields, and TASA may combine the visual design with aesthetic education and integrate them into other design fields. or, in combination with the practice project of the university, introduce the student research projects that not only train the overall ability of students but also their innovative thinking, to provide new paths for the design thought of TASA. Finally, Associate Professor GU Xin said, she is willing to introduce resources to participate in the future project development of TASA, so as to achieve the win-win result for TASA and schooling. 

Associate Professor WEI Erqiang mentioned that the work of TASA's platform should be the extension and application deepening of the school, which is the key to attracting students and talents. The platform established on the basis of AADTHU should be different from other platforms, have authoritative appeal in the industry, and become the cultural center of Qingdao and even the whole Shandong Province. In the course of its development, TASA should also maintain an inclusive and sharing cultural perspective, support multiculturalism and introduce integrated arts activities and programs. At the same time, it is important for TASA to identify the shortcomings of other similar fields and make up for those of TASA's positioning with the awareness of identifying and solving problems, so that it could create its unique appeal. 

Based on her accumulated experience, Director LIU Wei pointed out that ocean fashion would be one of the important directions for Qingdao's future fashion development, and TASA could also make new attempts in terms of its development in the field of fashion design based on ocean culture and in the direction of civil-military integration, so as to contribute to Qingdao's building of a high-end fashion design industry with local cultural characteristics. 

Professor CHEN Hui (Painting Department) concluded that AADTHU had put forward the concept of combining art with science as early as 2001, and on this basis, it has been deepening its research. With the unique innovative spirit of Tsinghua people, it has been deepening, extending, leading and solidifying its research on the concept of art and science integration. The establishment of TASA is an important milestone in enabling AADTHU to realize a true integration of art and science, a concept over which we have commanded absolute authority and from which we are able to trace the source relations. TASA's future exhibitions should focus on high-end products driven by arts and scientific innovation, and create a worldwide cultural communion, a cultural integration that emerges from the relationship between art forms and aesthetic appreciation. In contemporary times, the combination of art and science is universally representative, with art and science interpenetrating each other. Only by starting from such idea can we develop TASA better. The platform of art and science drives innovation, which in turn leads to the formation of products with social effects and drives the development of high-end industries. TASA's core mission is to link art and science closely, which is our undisputed brand. 

At the final part of the salon, Deputy Director ZHAO Chao thanked the experts who had participated in the event and said that the continuous holding of the Art and Science Innovation Salon has not only opened up our ideas and pointed out the direction for the development of TASA, but also provided feasible suggestions for the further development of AADTHU. TASA will continue to hold salon activities with AADTHU and ASRC by taking the advantage of the platform, collect experts' opinions and compile them into volumes, and publish collections of salon articles, so that our thoughts can be truly transformed and take shape in TASA.