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Introduction to Exhibition | 2021 "BMW China Culture Journey" Social Innovation Achievement Exhibition
Reflecting on the past in the light of the present,we’ve kept making innovations ; and the art has been passed down from ancient to modern times. This is a tracing journey of the art of intangible cultural heritage that originated in Liaoning and Hubei. This is an innovation combining traditional intangible cultural heritage (ICH) art from Hainan, Liaoning and Hubei and modern art design and popular aesthetics, an exhibition of good taste and beauty.
On October 26, 2021, the 2021 "BMW China Culture Journey" Social Innovation Achievement Exhibition was officially unveiled in Shanghai at the BMW Brand Experience Center, featuring works created by a team of experts from the AADTHU and ICH inheritors from Hainan, Liaoning and Hubei. The exhibition was open to the public at the BMW Brand Experience Center in Shanghai from October 27 to November 5.
I. Introduction to the Project and Exhibition
The year 2021 marks the 15th anniversary of the "BMW China Culture Journey" project and the 5th anniversary of the founding of the "Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University - BMW Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection and Innovation Base". Since 2019, the Innovation Base has been upgraded. The 2019 and 2020 sessions of the "Training Class of Tsinghua BMW Innovation Center for ICH Safeguarding" were jointly held by the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University ("AADTHU"), BMW China Automotive Trading Ltd., BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd., and Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research ("AADTHU"), which improved the inheritors' artistic vision and capacity of cultural creativity.
Right from the moment of its joining the Innovation Base, Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research (TASA) has been shouldering an important mission. The Innovation Base, which is in a new stage, will be firmly rooted in the cultivation model of AADTHU while integrating the industrial advantages and brand incubation and innovation capabilities of the Academy to industrialize ICH achievements, form a strong brand effect, and bring true and socialized ICH innovation achievements to the public.
To this end, the Academy has been focused on implementing the concept of "social innovative design", the organic integration of the "social development" mission and the "innovative design" thinking. The application of socialized innovative design in supporting ICH development is an upgraded concept of "teaching people how to fish is better than giving them fish", which not only encourages all walks of life in society to provide different support to address social development issues (including issues related to the ICH inheritance), such as policies, funds, and resources, but also offers design strategies and methodological guidance for the self-help and even solutions to social problems. It will also be conducive to the crafting of an integrated and inclusive social and cultural ecosystem, the breakdown of barriers between industries, the promotion of the rational allocation of social resources, the building of a bridge between the "new" and the "old", the connection between the "east" and the "west", the facilitation of derivations "inside" and "outside", and the linkage of interaction between the "particles" and the "field", truly realizing the values of design and society, and eventually achieving the continuous progress of civilization through inheritance and innovation.
All the works on display were the creative products designed and developed by ICH inheritors from Hainan, Liaoning and Hubei with the help of the Innovation Base in the mode of "learning by doing". The exhibition will invite the public to experience the “touch of ICH” together through innovative contents and forms, and for the first time, it adopted green and recyclable display materials with olfactory design experts from AADTHU as the curator. Through the interaction between olfactory design devices and the display of ICH art, the exhibition created a rich and immersive experience that evoked visitors' emotions and memories by sight, taste and touch, taking them to the original ecological environment where the ICH art was born and to appreciate the beauty of the harmonious coexistence of men, culture and nature.
II. Scenes of the Exhibition
Photos of scenes of the 2021 "BMW China Culture Journey" Social Innovation Achievement Exhibition
Photos of scenes of the 2021 "BMW China Culture Journey" Social Innovation Achievement Exhibition
Photos of scenes of the 2021 "BMW China Culture Journey" Social Innovation Achievement Exhibition
III. 2020 Session - Participating Teams and Their Works
Pine and Crane
Supervisor: LU Xiaobo
President of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
President of the Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research
ICH Inheritor: CHEN Huansheng
Inheritor of Amber Carving, Liaoning Intangible Cultural Heritage
The work Pine and Crane is a metaphor for excellence and longevity, while amber is mostly formed by the petrified resin of pine plants, so it is also called "fossilized pine resin". In China, pine trees have always been of great implications, thus making turpentine amber a precious treasure since ancient times. This is a piece featuring the natural relationship between pines and cranes, with a crane carved into the amber, a perfect combination of the clam amber and the agile crane to express the artist's intention of showcasing the proud, noble and transcendent quality of the Chinese humanistic spirit.
Pine and Crane
Pine and Crane
Pine and Crane
Drinking from the Winding Canal
Supervisor: WANG Xiaoxin
Associate Professor of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
ICH Inheritor: SHI Yan
Inheritor of Traditional Pewter Carving, Liaoning Intangible Cultural Heritage
For this set of works, faceted gemstones have been chosen as the main subject matter, and geometric faceted shapes have been used in line with contemporary aesthetics to make contemporary transformations of and innovative practices on traditional pewter craftsmanship, integrating the beauty of the forms of the faceted gemstones, the practical function of the tea set, and people's lives. It is an attempt to innovate in the transformation of pewter craftsmanship from tradition to contemporaneity, like the spirit of literati who indulge themselves in natural landscapes and drink water from a winding canal.
Drinking from the Winding Canal
Drinking from the Winding Canal
Drinking from the Winding Canal
Dialogue, Boonie Bears
Supervisor: YANG Peizhang
Associate Professor of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
ICH Inheritor: ZOU Chuanzhi
Inheritor of Chu-style Lacquer Painting Technique, Hubei Intangible Cultural Heritage
It is an exploration of the cultural origins and the integration of Poetry of the State of Chu and Laozi and Zhuangzi, and romanticism and free spirit, with Chu-style lacquerware history, craftsmanship, ornamentation, shape and color as the carrier, as well as a perfect unity of application and functionality with artistic and aesthetic expression; It is a match of the modern craftsmanship of three-dimensional sculptures, wall decorations and small ornaments with traditional featured craftsmanship; And it is an incorporation of 3D digital woodworking carving body with hand-painted lacquer paste and color painting.
Dialogue
Dialogue
Boonie Bears
Boonie Bears
Butterflies, The Tide, Seaweeds
Supervisor: LIU Runfu
Associate Professor of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
ICH Inheritor: FENG Yueting
Inheritor of Songhua Inkstone Technique, Liaoning Intangible Cultural Heritage
Butterflies: Inspired by the classic BMW logo, this piece has extracted the fan-shaped elements to form a scene and space of colorful butterflies dancing by reorganizing and splicing the fans in a freehand ink painting approach. It has used the traditional inlay technique and is an attempt at the modern interpretation of traditional inkstone decoration.
The Tide: In the Chinese traditional culture, the belief that “the supreme good is like water” is one of the major elements that represent the Chinese humanistic sentiments and one that implies tolerance and inclusiveness. It is exactly because Chinese culture has absorbed the good of the cultures of its different ethnic groups that it has been having a surging development with rich fruits along the way, and the civilization of the new era will rise like a sunrise from the ocean of the traditional culture.
Seaweeds: Inspired by the herbaceous plants of marine life, the author has virtually designed a kind of marine plant of a hollow tube-like shape in an overall wave-like surging state. In this piece, the traditional sculpting technique of Songhua inkstone has been adopted to bring out the natural texture of the material in an attempt to jump out of the traditional form of inkstone and explore the contemporary form of Songhua inkstone with Chinese aesthetics.
Butterflies
The Tide
Seaweeds
Civilizations that May Have Been Lost or Never Existed
Supervisor: SU Zhipeng
Associate Researcher of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
ICH Inheritor: YANG Fang
Inheritor of Fuxin Agate Carving Technique, Liaoning Intangible Cultural Heritage
The symbolic image of screws, coupled with the significance of Fuxin as a typical northeastern industrial city of the time, as implied by the city's characteristics, and the way a screw and nut are inter-twisted, are actually implicitly in line with the implications of auspicious symbols, such as fortune and longevity, in traditional agate crafts. This has also left great possibilities for further creative development, making it possible for the agate craft to become a real living intangible cultural heritage.
Civilizations that May Have Been Lost or Never Existed
Civilizations that May Have Been Lost or Never Existed
Civilizations that May Have Been Lost or Never Existed
QI Baishi's Garden in the Autumn
Supervisor: MA Wenjia
Associate Professor of Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University
ICH Inheritor: WAN Xiang
Inheritor of Zhuoqin (plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument) Making Technique in Chu Region, Hubei Intangible Cultural Heritage
Lacquer and carving techniques have been integrated based on the modeling techniques of guqin making, and the visual expression of lacquer and the visual sensation of traditional culture have been used as the entry point for the creation of this piece. It is based on the works of banana leaves and persimmons of the famous Chinese artist QI Baishi as the subject matter, and uses the language of relief modeling as well as the object modeling approach to improve the modeling to make the banana leaf pendant and persimmon jewelry box. In the integrated space, by using the sentiments conveyed in Qi Baishi's paintings, this piece is an expression that despite the passing of the artist, his spirit and quality have survived the times.
QI Baishi's Garden in the Autumn
QI Baishi's Garden in the Autumn
IV. Project Prospects
The five ICH inheritors selected from Yunnan during this year's "BMW China Culture Journey" visit will also be trained by the Innovation Base to design and develop ICH products with market demand, and the results are expected to be released in 2022.
