When it comes to Qingdao, the first thing that comes to mind is the beauty and beer, and now there is one more label - contemporary art.
In the development of contemporary art in the past year, Qingdao has been constantly mentioned, especially the opening of the Xihai Art Museum, which has established a new height for the development of Qingdao Art Museum and made more eyes focus on Qingdao, a coastal city.
Looking back at the development of contemporary art in Qingdao in the past year, in addition to the Xihai Art Museum, the opening of the Yellow Box Art Museum also has a very important impact, and together with the Yunshang Art Center located in Qingdao city, the private art museum has become a very important part of the development of contemporary art in Qingdao, and at the same time, it has also provided strong software and hardware support for the development of contemporary art in Qingdao.
In terms of exhibitions, in addition to the opening exhibition "Beyond" of Xihai Art Museum and the "Yellow Box Open Exhibition" of Yellow Box Art Museum, there are also the 4th Qingdao International Contemporary Art Exhibition, the 6th China Youth Printmaking Exhibition, Super Perspective: Science and Technology + Art Exhibition, 2021 Qingdao International Art Annual Exhibition, the 4th Chinese Contemporary Abstract Sculpture Art Exhibition, the 5th International Public Art Award Ceremony and many other exhibitions, showing a very active state.
In terms of art education, the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University has set up the Tsinghua Qingdao Institute of Art and Science Innovation in Qingdao, and the building of the Qingdao campus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts has been capped and will be completed in 2022, whether it is the construction of art museums or exhibition activities, as well as art education, Qingdao's art ecology is undergoing tremendous changes, and it is becoming another important town for contemporary art.
Private Art Museum: The system is being generated
Qingdao is a famous historical and cultural city with beautiful coastal scenery, and its open urban genes, rapid economic development and urban positioning all have an environment for the development of contemporary art, but in the view of Meng Xianwei, founder of Qingdao Xihai Art Bay, compared with the level of urban development, Qingdao's contemporary art display space and art activities are relatively weak.
"There are many artists from Qingdao, such as Sui Jianguo, Wang Yin, Zang Kunkun, etc., and there are also groups that mainly collect contemporary art. But because of the lack of contemporary art space where these artists can display and communicate, they rarely come back for artistic activities after they go out. The Xihai Art Museum fills this gap, as sui Jianguo, the artist who participated in this exhibition, said: This is the real exhibition he has held in Qingdao for 40 years, which is enough to illustrate this point. Meng Xianwei said.
Exterior view of The West Sea Art Museum
In 2007, Meng Xianwei undertook an international exhibition in Qingdao, and at that time he did not find a public art space that could undertake large-scale exhibitions. Qingdao, which has superior economic and natural conditions and profound cultural accumulation, needs an art museum that matches the level of urban development. Of course, this also provides an opportunity for it, which is not only an opportunity to realize the dream of art, but also an opportunity for the development of cultural enterprises.
For the development of contemporary art in Qingdao for more than ten years, Meng Xianwei said that more than ten years ago, when contemporary art was in its infancy, cultural parks such as 798 and Hongfang, represented by Beijing and Shanghai, have emerged, which represent the artistic outlook of a city and reflect the artistic standards and spiritual temperament of the city. Qingdao has a strong artistic heritage, and has also trained many well-known artists at home and abroad, but for various reasons, a large number of artists have left Qingdao, and this loss has affected Qingdao's artistic strength. Ten years have passed, and then look at the current situation of Qingdao's art development, Qingdao has a more active contemporary art gallery, but the lack of new professional art museums and non-profit institutions, compared with Shanghai and Shenzhen, qingdao to learn, Qingdao to catch up, need to make some efforts.
The opening exhibition of "Beyond" at the Xihai Art Museum
Qingdao is a representative of the new first-tier cities in the mainland, with a GDP of over one trillion yuan and a living population of nearly 10 million, but whether the "consumption" of art can provide sufficient support for the subsequent development of Qingdao contemporary art, and how to attract more people to stop in the provision of artistic content, Meng Xianwei said that the biggest uniqueness of the Xihai Art Museum is that it is an art museum based on the art community. At the beginning, I hoped to put the art museum in a good natural environment, and at the same time I wanted to create a good humanistic environment for it. Therefore, in the community, whether it is the artistic enlightenment of children, the sketching of art colleges, or the settlement of artists' studios and the residence of international masters, they are all creating a humanistic environment and resource gathering for the art museum. At the same time, it also sets up an institutional art museum for enterprises here, providing conditions for interaction and complementarity with public welfare art museums, and in this process, gradually forming a relatively complete system of art community, and also providing a good artistic ecological foundation for the future of art museums. The settlement of CAFA Qingdao Campus has greatly enriched the art ecology of the community, and combined the new professional art education and public art education to create a world-class art bay area with "art as the main body and art education as the support", providing more choices and possibilities for curators, artists and audiences who come here.
In addition, the museum operates in four departments, most of which are graduates of art, design, museum and other related majors, almost all of whom have overseas study experience, and are a professional management team with an international perspective. After the opening exhibition "Beyond", the architectural exhibition of architect Jean Nouvel was confirmed, as well as a large solo exhibition of several internationally renowned artists. At the same time, a series of cooperation with French art institutions and foundations has been launched. In addition, the museum also pays more attention to the programs of young curators and young artists, which will provide more opportunities for young people to communicate and display, grow up with young artists, and jointly explore more possibilities for the future development of the art museum.
Designed and built by the internationally renowned architect Jean Nouvel, the West Sea Museum has world-class hardware facilities, and in terms of exhibition quality, the opening exhibition invited Alex Katz, Anish Kapoor, Bill Viola, Carsten H ller, David Hockney, Liu Xiaodong, Luc Tuymans Tuymans), Richard Deacon, Song Dong, Sui Jianguo, Xu Bing, Yin Xiuzhen, Yu Hong, Zhang Xiaogang and other 14 artists at home and abroad have taken Qingdao's contemporary art exhibition to a new height.
In Meng Xianwei's narration, we can see the energy of an art museum, if all the planning can be realized later, whether it is exhibition display, the gathering of artist groups or art education and public aesthetic education, I believe that Qingdao will be a new level.
In addition to the Xihai Art Museum, which opened last year was also the Yellow Box Art Museum, which is also in Qingdao's West Coast New Area, the "Yellow Box Open Exhibition" opened in August 2021, presenting thousands of contemporary art works, of which the post-90s artists accounted for more than 75% of the works, bringing a rich contemporary art experience to Qingdao, and the Yunshang Art Center is located in qingdao's downtown area, in the Haitian Center more than 300 meters in the sky center, the exhibition "Super Perspective: Science and Technology + Art Exhibition" held in 2021 successfully went out of the circle. Attracting a large number of public to come to watch, the three art museums constitute an important background for Qingdao contemporary art, and will also provide more professional and systematic support for the future development of Qingdao contemporary art.
Art activities: Qingdao has started
In addition to the venue, in the exhibition, the large-scale contemporary art exhibitions or activities in the past year include the 4th Qingdao International Contemporary Art Exhibition, the 6th China Youth Printmaking Exhibition, the Super Perspective: Science and Technology + Art Exhibition, the 2021 Qingdao International Art Annual Exhibition, the 4th Chinese Contemporary Abstract Sculpture Art Exhibition, the 5th International Public Art Award Ceremony, etc.
Among them, "Super Perspective: Technology + Art Exhibition" is curated by Xu Juan, she is also a Qingdao native, in addition to this exhibition, she also planned the "Qingdao Innovation Festival • Light Up Qingdao's Science and Technology Fashion Show", Xu Juan said that in the past two years, she has returned to Qingdao more and more times, and Qingdao's art ecology is getting better and better.
"Hyper Perspectives: Technology + Art Exhibition"
This is mainly due to the return of talents, more and more people choose to return to their hometowns after graduation, the flow of talents provides opportunities and foundations for the development of contemporary art in Qingdao; Xu Juan said that before returning to Qingdao to do contemporary art, it will encounter the problem of the audience, and now the atmosphere is getting better and better, such as "Super Perspective: Science and Technology + Art Exhibition", the number of network views has exceeded 100 million, from which you can see the popularity of the exhibition.
There are also such institutions as xihai art museum, cloud art center, providing more opportunities and platforms, cloud art center is located in the main city of Qingdao, in the planning and development of the art museum wants to compete with Japan's Mori Art Museum, in the operation, also set up an academic committee, Xu Juan is one of them, in addition to Du Dakai, Sui Jianguo and other influential artists from Qingdao, to provide professional support for the development of the art museum; she also said that Qingdao's old town is also undergoing transformation, and she will be invited to provide professional advice in the transformation. Nowadays, some neighborhoods have become very fashionable, attracting the attention of a large number of young people, which are all changes in Qingdao.
Of course, Qingdao still has a lot to do in the future development, such as the continuous cultivation of audience aesthetics, a good audience to promote the output of good content; the development of the art industry is also inseparable from the support of the government, there is also the introduction and retention of talents, compared with Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, Changsha and other cities, Qingdao still needs to work hard.
Artist: One more reason to go back to Qingdao
Sui Jianguo is an artist from Qingdao, the Opening Exhibition of the Xihai Art Museum He tailored a large-scale sculpture for the art museum, and also held a lecture, you can see his enthusiasm and expectations for his hometown, he embarked on the road of art from Qingdao, growth is also here, for example, he opened the sculpture road after entering the Qingdao Sifang District Cultural Center.
In an interview with the media, Sui Jianguo told a story: "In the late 1990s, Qingdao May Fourth Square was in full bloom, and four proposals for the iconic sculpture on the square were shortlisted for finalization, including the 'May Wind' that later became an absolute landmark of Qingdao, which is also the only abstract sculpture among the candidates. At that time, the opinions of the expert group were mostly inclined to this, but the relevant departments hesitated: will the red image in the spinning and rising be incomprehensible to the public and resist? Sui Jianguo, who was a member of the expert group at the time, proposed that the four plans be publicized in the Huilan Pavilion of Zhanqiao to solicit public opinion. As a result, the 'May Wind' has won the love and recognition of the people with an overwhelming advantage, and it has become an artistic landmark that all people who come to the city today will choose to punch the clock.
Sui Jianguo created a new work based on the space of the Xihai Art Museum
So, never underestimate the aesthetics of the city's populace! Sui Jianguo believes that the tolerance and understanding of new things is the innate strength of the city, which stems from the earlier cultural integration in Qingdao's history and from the fearlessness of acceptance in the bones of the seaside people. ”
Zang Kunkun is a Qingdao artist, this year he returned to Qingdao more times, the end of the year is about to celebrate the New Year, he is still talking about his solo exhibition plan in Qingdao, he said that Qingdao's contemporary art ecology is indeed getting better, in 2021 he also returned to Qingdao to participate in the "Summer Is Coming" contemporary art exhibition.
Zang Kunkun's "Summer Is Coming" exhibition "Who is Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue (VI)", 2019-2020, linen, acrylic, frame, plexiglass, 72 x 82 x 6.5 cm
Zang Kunkun "Summer is Coming" exhibited work "Niche", 2020, wood, acrylic, makeup gold frame, plexiglass, diameter: 76cm Thickness: 10cm
In Zang Kunkun's view, Qingdao's contemporary art ecology is being generated, has not yet reached the final form, but it is much better than before, art institutions have previously had Murphy Ink Gallery, now there is a world-class art museum such as the West Sea Art Museum, the soil of contemporary art has begun to generate, in the future, it is also possible to consider returning to Qingdao to open a studio, he said that the artist's ecology is very much like a fish pond, is a set of ecosystems, if there is no other ecology, just go back to build a studio is meaningless, and now gradually have this condition The crowd of people who visited the exhibition was also generated, and people's cognition was improving, so he said that there was another reason to return to Qingdao.
Zang Kunkun (fourth from left) at the Xihai Art Museum
Art Education: Empower qingdao to move into the future
In Qingdao, art educators are strengthening, the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University has opened the Tsinghua Qingdao Academy of Arts and Science Innovation here, and in 2021, it also held a series of theme exhibitions on "Art Integration and Quality creation for the future" and a series of theme conferences on "Art Design Discipline Construction in the Context of New Liberal Arts Construction".
Tsinghua Qingdao Academy of Arts and Science Innovation as the only branch of Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts in the country, the above activities are the first time that the Institute has appeared in the public eye, in addition, the project building of the Qingdao Campus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts will be capped in 2021, and enrollment will be realized in 2022, and the campus covers the teaching complex, the dormitory complex, the artist studio, the auditorium complex, and the outdoor sports venue. With marine strategy and marine culture as the core, we will carry out multi-level, high-quality and international art and design innovation education projects, covering many traditional and emerging disciplines and professional fields such as marine design, fashion design, free art, art education, and cultural industry management.
The area where the campus is located is adjacent to the Xihai Art Museum, and it is believed that the combination of the two institutions will provide a continuous source and impetus for the development of Qingdao's future art.
Conclusion: Qingdao is becoming an emerging city of contemporary art, you can see that the city's contemporary art system is being generated, just like Qingdao University Academy of Fine Arts Associate Professor Qi Wenping said, Qingdao has a large number of art museums, and has never been a city like Qingdao so attached so much importance to the art education of young people, Qingdao's watercolors are very famous in the country, as well as Qingdao's prints and sculptures, here are very rich art resources and foundations, contemporary art is rising here, is giving Qingdao a more new cultural form The future of Qingdao's art can be expected.