"Uh-huh, the tiger is coming!" The Lunar New Year of the Tiger is approaching, and on January 22, 374 works of art related to tigers were unveiled at the Hongqiao Museum of Contemporary Art and the surrounding exhibition areas, adding a festive atmosphere to the Year of the Tiger.
Since 2010, the "Shanghai Children's Zodiac Painting Exhibition" has been held for 12 consecutive years and has become a brand project of Changning culture. On January 22, 2022, the beginning of the 13th new round of zodiac exhibitions, as a "art" celebration of the Happy Year - Changning Culture and Arts Center "Le Hi Shanghai Over the New Year" series of activities and 2022 New Year's Day Spring Festival Changning District public cultural activities, "Ah Woo Woo Woo Tiger is coming!" The 13th International Children's Zodiac Painting Exhibition was officially launched.
From the first year of planning the children's zodiac painting exhibition in 2010 to last year's 2021, the zodiac painting exhibition has gone through the first twelve years. "Compared with the first round of the Zodiac Exhibition, the planning team pays more attention to excavating the connotation and meaning behind the Chinese Zodiac culture, according to the origin, evolution, derivation, customs and culture of the Zodiac as the curatorial section and creative direction, combining modern and contemporary and intangible cultural heritage forms of artistic expression, and mobilizing foreign children living and studying in Shanghai to participate in the display of contemporary children's zodiac culture in a concentrated way." Xu Jie, curator of the Hongqiao Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai, said.
In this exhibition, Hongqiao Local Art Museum, Children's publishing house, and Changning District Education Institute collected and selected from primary and secondary schools and art institutions on this theme, and selected 374 selected works from more than 4,000 works submitted, including 57 award-winning works, including graphic paintings, three-dimensional sculptures, videos, installations, intangible cultural heritage and other forms. The seven exhibition areas such as the main exhibition area, the digital exhibition area, the intangible cultural heritage exhibition area, and the community exhibition area echoed each other, and the participating authors spread all over the country, including foreign children living in Shanghai, students in primary and secondary schools, and students of social art training institutions.
The exhibition includes three major sections: "Zodiac Traceability", "Zodiac Evolution" and "Zodiac Derivation", focusing on the traditional Chinese zodiac culture and stories in the eyes of children at present, guiding children to explore the zodiac culture due to artistic creation, digging deep into the spiritual inheritance behind the zodiac culture, and making cultural genes and national memories endless.
In the major sub-exhibition areas, citizens and tourists can also have different experiences of the "Year of the Tiger". At the Hongqiao Peninsula Printmaking Art Center, you can enjoy the "Tiger Under the 'Knife' of the Printmaking Artist". Rong Gubei Station is located in a densely populated community for expats, where the "Chinese Zodiac in the Eyes of Foreign Children" exhibition provides different perspectives on the Chinese zodiac. In the West Library of Changning District Children's Library, a reading area has been specially opened to let young readers understand the culture of the Zodiac...
Exhibition site
"The Zodiac is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, the crystallization of wisdom accumulated by Chinese culture for thousands of years, profoundly reflecting the customs and etiquette, thinking mode, moral concepts and aesthetic tastes of the Chinese nation, carrying and transmitting the blood and essence of the nation, and in the way of generations, imprinted in our thoughts, deeply affecting our lives." How to guide children to express their understanding of zodiac culture in an artistic way? From the perspective of the needs of contemporary children and the perspective of social aesthetic education, what kind of zodiac culture should we tell? How to inspire them to contact, study and explore the deeper connotations of zodiac culture in an autonomous way? Under the general trend of cultural exchange and integration in the world, how to establish the national cultural pride of contemporary children and young people? How to turn culture into a breeze and blow into everyone's heart? These are the important topics and directions that we cultural workers need to think about and strive for, and they are also the original intention of our continuous holding of zodiac painting exhibitions. ”
Xu Jie introduced that the twelve-year brand exhibition is a participant and witness to the vigorous development of children's art education, "from the registration of students in threes and threes to the support of more than 100 art institutions 'Big Alliance' and the Ministry of Education of Changning, this exhibition takes the traditional culture of the zodiac as the starting point and carries the social responsibility of the art museum." How can primary and secondary schools and art institutions improve the aesthetic literacy of children and young people? This exhibition has played a guiding and creative role. In the context of the "double reduction policy", the value of art education has been seen by more people, "the double reduction policy has brought children more time to observe the world and discover more beauty around them." Cultural centers and art galleries should provide children with this beauty in a timely manner. We firmly believe that aesthetic education is a teaching by example, and it is to influence life with life. Art runs life, beautiful heart, and painting is a very good way. ”
It is reported that the exhibition will last until February 22. The award ceremony will be held at a later date during the exhibition, and a colorful New Year's art market will be held.