At the summary and commendation meeting of the Beijing Winter Olympic games and the Winter Paralympic Games held on the 8th, the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University won the title of "Outstanding Contribution Collective of the Beijing Winter Olympic And Paralympic Games".
The "big snowflakes", composed of 96 "small snowflakes", swirling around the "silver ribbon"... During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the torch platform outside the three major competition areas attracted worldwide attention with its flexible and flowing shape. This torchbearer, which skillfully integrates art and technology, was designed by a team of teachers and students led by Professor Marseille, secretary of the Party Committee and professor of tsinghua academy of fine arts.
Over the years, Marseille has served a series of major national activities with art design, not only participating in the design of the 60th anniversary of the National Day Tiananmen Square float, presiding over the completion of the design of the large-scale landscape sculpture of the "Red Streamer" and 11 themed floats for the 70th anniversary of the National Day, and also participating in the design of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games and the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
The design tasks of major national activities are often tight, heavy and stressful. Marseille always leads the team to overcome difficulties, pioneering and innovating, turning design sketches into eye-catching landscapes at large-scale events.
In his view, serving the country, praising the era, and modeling for the country is the lofty mission of art designers, and it is also the red gene in the blood of the people of the Academy of Fine Arts. The predecessor of Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts is the Central Academy of Arts and Crafts, and its purpose of the institute is to cultivate artistic design talents and serve the development of the country and the people's livelihood, and this tradition has been passed down from generation to generation and continues to this day.
The picture shows the design work of the Marseille series
A pair of black-rimmed glasses, simple clothing, humble treatment. In the eyes of the students, Mr. Ma is very elegant, artistically pursuing perfection, often saying "either don't do it, do it to do the best, afraid of not doing your best."
In November 2020, Marseille received a design invitation from the team for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. He immediately organized the faculty and students of the college to set up a design team. They were told that the core element of the main torch was a circular sheet with a diameter of 10 meters, hoping to give the core graphics more artistic beauty and achieve subtle and complex movements.
How to make such a large area of circular flakes rotate in the air, have artistic beauty, and can also cope with adverse climatic conditions such as cold and strong winds to ensure support strength and stability? This is not only art modeling, but also involves engineering problems, and the difficulty of design is greatly increased.
Marseille led the team to experiment with plasticine, discs, woven tapes, etc., turning the round flakes into a "big snowflake" shape, and deliberating and demonstrating over and over again. In more than a month, the team created 9 different sets of solutions, each of which needed to be animated to properly express the shape of the form.
The picture shows Marseille leading the team to simulate the torch stand modeling structure with discs and woven tapes
Ren Xuchao, a member of the design team and a doctoral student at Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts, remembers that from the main torch to the "silver ribbon", Marseille has been thinking about each picture for a long time, repeatedly speculating from different angles, so that everyone continues to polish, adjust, and rework until iterate to the best state, "often at two or three o'clock in the morning we leave work, the lights in his office are still on."
In order to make the "big snowflake" rotate steadily and continuously, Marseille also invited professors from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Civil Engineering of Tsinghua University to cooperate to comprehensively consider factors such as wind load, snow pressure, weight, materials, etc., to simulate and measure the force of the torch stand under different winds, and then strengthen the relevant points.
The picture shows the design of the torch platform for the Beijing Winter Olympics
Thanks to the aesthetics and implementability, the proposal submitted by the Marseille team stood out from the crowd. During the construction process, he traveled to three competition areas and repeatedly adjusted and optimized the finished design. "Many small details in the construction have to be repeatedly communicated, Teacher Ma is personally involved, in the construction accuracy is not allowed to have a single flaw, only the lighting and the construction party communicated for two months." Ren Xuchao said.
"Art design needs beauty, but it must be able to implement the ground, otherwise it is just a good picture." Marseille believes that how to better combine technology and art and realize creativity is the future direction.
As a teacher, Marseille always encourages students to face difficulties, increase their talents and realize their self-worth in the artistic practice of "real knives and real guns". He took the students to do projects, stayed up late and worked overtime and grinded the plan. He said that after the baptism of major projects, it not only improved the students' design ability, but also cultivated patriotic feelings and tempered their will.
"I often tell students that the baton of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is now in our hands, and we are duty-bound to run forward and reflect the ability and value of our generation." To be a national project, we must make every effort to achieve good results. Marseille said.
He hopes that students will have the ability to express themselves comprehensively and think more about the needs of the country.
The picture shows the torch stand of the National Stadium
"He is an example, infecting you and guiding you all the way forward." Ren Xuchao said that the teacher has a Tsinghua tradition of "deeds speak louder than words", "Don't say anything out of the sky, make it first."
Now, in addition to teaching, Marseille is also responsible for the digital ecological creative design research and demonstration project in the Shougang Competition Area of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, hoping to let more people experience ice and snow sports through virtual interactive technology.
Recently, Marseille was awarded the title of "National Young and Middle-Aged Literary and Artistic Worker". "I am very grateful to this great era, which provides us with a broad stage for creation and expression, so that we can tell the story of contemporary China more confidently and calmly, and show the style of the Chinese era." He said.
Reporter: Wei Mengjia
Editors: Jia Zhen, Luan Ruohui
The images and videos are provided by Tsinghua Academy of Fine Arts