On the morning of December 21, the 2021 Chengdu Biennale Academic Exchange Conference with the theme of "Artistic Innovation and Urban Innovation" was held at the Tianfu Art Museum in Chengdu. As the largest and most academic art biennale since the epidemic, the 2021 Chengdu Biennale has attracted a large number of citizens since its launch, with nearly 5,000 people booking admission every day. This made Fan Di'an, the chief planner of the biennale, the chairman of the China Artists Association, and the president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, very happy, and he also mentioned this in his speech at the meeting and in the interview after the meeting.
The scene of the academic exchange meeting
"Under the premise that the haze of the global COVID-19 epidemic has not dissipated today and human society is still facing great challenges, the Chengdu Biennale meets the public in two newly built art museums, which is an important embodiment of our strategic achievements in China's fight against the epidemic." In particular, nearly 5,000 visitors can enter the art museum every day, which is an unprecedented event in the world at this point in time. "Today in various cities in China, various exhibitions are rising and falling, and the scene is very prosperous." But after this exuberance, we need to think more about what art means to cities. What does art mean to Chinese culture today? ”
Fan Di'an said that one of the purposes of holding this academic exchange meeting is to make the 2021 Chengdu Biennale not only have visual and impressive, specific and wonderful works of art, but also provide academic topics worth thinking about. Among them, there are three dimensions of problems and relationships that are particularly important.
"The first is the relationship between the biennale and its host city, that is, the exhibition and the region; the second is the relationship between the biennale and some new characteristics and trends of local art and Chinese art; and the third is the possible connection between the biennale as an international art event and global art." Fan Di'an also used the example of the three ancient characters "country, city, art", "these three hieroglyphs have a common feature, that is, the fusion of people and things - people have to hold in their hands, or cling to certain things, whether weapons or ceremonial instruments, have great symbolism... To some extent, the holding of the Chengdu Biennale is also intertwined with the city's thick and far-reaching cultural bloodline. ”
Biennale site
At the end of his speech, Fan Di'an cited the example of the giant sculpture "Walking Man" by the famous artist Su Xinping at the entrance of the Tianfu Art Museum, and revealed that at the beginning he had discussed with Lü Peng, the academic host of the Biennale, that it would be more appropriate to place several of them. "Is it one? Or two? Finally, let's say three, three people into a crowd - and I wish Chinese art a great stride forward and a city of determination! ”
【Dialogue with Van Di'an】
Red Star News: What do you think is the most difficult place to plan and hold the Chengdu Biennale?
Van Diean: The hardest part is to determine the subject. In a large art exhibition, the role of the artist is a bit like an actor, the curator is more like a director, to have a concept, to have a story line, to choose the right actor. Today's Chinese art has many directions to explore, and there are also a lot of details to present. I always feel that the word "fusion" in the theme of this biennale, "Super Integration", is of great epochal and cultural significance. Among them, two levels are very important, one is to reflect the history, humanities, traditions and innovative vitality of Chengdu through "integration"; the other is that today's experts also said: From all angles, today's art around the world is more and more reflecting a sense of integration. Just like we do scholarship, we must be on the margins, borders, and cross-border areas to generate new vitality.
Red Star News: Do you think this is a sign of success when the biennial show is in Chengdu' new Internet celebrity punch card, especially on weekends, when the whole day is full?
Fan Di'an: The exhibition I planned pays great attention to the attention and visits of the public, because I think that art reflects its value in the process of serving the society and the people, and we must put social benefits in the first place. Of course, there are also exhibitions that can explore academic issues purely without an audience. But I personally think that a big art event like the Biennale should pay special attention to popularity indicators.
Attaching importance to popularity indicators does not mean just taking some good-looking works to attract the audience, but also through the construction of their own academics, so that the audience has a deeper harvest in the process of watching the exhibition. I hope that the biennale can bring two harvests to the public: one is the harvest of aesthetics, so that people can open their horizons, see the vitality of today's artistic creation, and feel the value of innovation from art; the other is to achieve the function of aesthetic education, to provide the public with some new horizons and new knowledge about art, and the pioneering use of art for new technologies and new materials, which is also very important.
Van Diean spoke at the meeting
Red Star News: What is the positioning of this year's Chengdu Biennale?
Fan Di'an: The Chengdu Biennale has been held for many sessions, including the first few sessions, which I also participated in. I think in the past, the main thing was the lack of a fixed venue, so that the biennale did not have a stable platform for landing. Now with these two new art galleries, this is the best basic condition.
I think this year's Chengdu Biennale reflects the sense of the times and the times in the theme. If the theme has a distinct sense of the times, it can be recognized by more artists. For example, many of the more than 270 artists participating in this exhibition are very famous artists, and they are facing invitations to major exhibitions around the world, so he will also consider and choose whether to send works to participate. The active participation of these famous artists in the Chengdu Biennale is not only a recognition of the city of Chengdu, but also a recognition of the theme of this biennale, of course, including the recognition of the quality of our organization, management and service guarantee in the specific lending process.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that the biennale must have quality. Some of the contemporary art works in the Biennale have a certain experimental nature, and there is a run-in degree between the venue, which is actually not easy to do. Therefore, many biennials will also have some rough and inconsiderate, even the famous Venice Biennale is sometimes inevitable. However, the 2021 Chengdu Biennale is of very high quality thanks to the meticulous efforts of the organizers and the careful consideration of the curatorial team! That's something I'm particularly proud of. The Chengdu Biennale has suddenly reached such a high quality, which is also a manifestation of the aesthetic quality of life in Chengdu.
Red Star News: What impact do you think the 2021 Chengdu Biennale can bring to Chinese contemporary art?
Fan Di'an: At present, it is impossible to predict anything in particular, but from the feedback exchanges of many artist colleagues, I still heard everyone's evaluation of the Biennale, who is very satisfied that their works can be professionally and fully displayed in the newly completed venue, and also have praise and confidence in the Chengdu Biennale. As I said in my speech before, there are many exhibitions today, and the artistic atmosphere is very prosperous. But it is important that the exhibition reflects the self-confidence of Chinese culture and Chinese art. If the Chengdu Biennale has any impact, it is to further increase the confidence that Chinese art today is increasingly moving to the center of the world stage in the international art world, which is very important.
Red Star News reporter Qiao Xueyang
Edited by Li Jie
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