On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. This is the Main Torch. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Yang Lei
In the spring of 2022, the eyes of the world will once again focus on the "Bird's Nest". Director Zhang Yimou, as the first general director of the "Double Olympics", fulfilled his promise, and held an ethereal, romantic and aesthetic opening ceremony, highlighting the beauty of culture, art, spirit and technology, and once again stunning the world. From a geographical and spatial point of view, from "Beijing welcomes you" to "we see you in Beijing", the first "City of The Two Olympics" was born in China; from the perspective of psychological space, from "the same world, the same dream" to "together to the future", the transformation of the creative mentality of freedom and relaxation has been realized; from the perspective of the type of story narrative, from "I" want the world to see China, to the "we" of the world to see China this time, the transformation of the singular to the plural perspective has been realized. The theme of the short video in the countdown to the Winter Olympics is "different", the connotation expresses the "beauty of each other" of the culture "different", and reveals the ultimate direction of the community of destiny in the reality of "no pair of snowflakes are the same". In the fourteen years from 2008 to 2022, thanks to the two Olympic Games, we can clearly understand the great changes in China, see that the economic, cultural and spiritual pattern of great powers has been formed, and a new form of civilization is gradually being recognized by the world. At present, China, leaping to the world's second largest economy, absolute poverty has been eliminated, and there are frequent successes in the field of science and technology, especially in the fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the superiority of the Chinese system has been highlighted as never before, which is to give the creators of the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games the greatest confidence to successfully surpass and dare to innovate.
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. It's a fireworks show. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lu Ye
The more simple it is, the more difficult it is
The opening ceremony first highlighted the "beauty of simplicity", and it is not known that "simplicity is not simple". The opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, the memory of the history of the world Olympic Games can not be reproduced, the uncertainty of the global epidemic makes the tactics of the sea of people no longer feasible; also in the space of the "Bird's Nest", the grand narrative of the glorious epic of the past 2021 cannot be copied. Many difficulties and uncertainties have prompted the "Zhang Yimou aesthetics", which has always been a big scene and a strong ink, from "release" to "collection". There is a saying in our directing industry: "Although I don't know what to ask for, I must know what not to want." "Starting from the story of a snowflake, rejecting the complexity of the grand narrative, lightly packing and letting go of the imagination, whether it is the interweaving of tradition and modernity in the opening twenty-four solar terms countdown short film, or the overall integration of the program into the ceremony, the integration of art and technology, the abandonment of big songs and dances, the big scenes, and the return to ordinary people, all of which practice the oriental aesthetics of simplifying complexity and returning to simplicity." If the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games is the magnificent beauty of the grand Tang Dynasty, then the opening ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics is the simple style of the minimalist aesthetics of the Song Dynasty. Through the change of light and shadow, the moderation of dots and lines, the restraint of emotion and drama, especially in the temptation of the world's largest ice surface screen LED, it can restrain the strange scientific and technological show-off, return to the accurate transmission of culture, and return to the expression of oriental spirit. Especially in the ignition session, when the torch is inserted into the snowflakes, the Eastern philosophy of "extremely clever and moderate" is vividly expressed. Pound also said that the only way to avoid mediocrity is precision. Zhang Yimou's directorial team uses the least amount of pen and ink to outline the most exquisite and accurate oriental picture.
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. This is the "Build a Snowflake" session at the opening ceremony. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Ziheng
The softer it is, the more powerful it is
The second feature of the opening ceremony is the "beauty of flexibility". The opening spring performance uses the spring breeze grass as the image, avoids the embodiment of national symbols and traditional cultural signs, and chooses to be close to the earth and the grass roots. I am reminded of the life question raised by Mr. Xia Yan's "Wild Grass": "What is the most powerful thing in the world?" It is the strength of the grass, the tension of life, the "grassroots" force representing the people, and everyone who is facing the sun, working hard to grow, and yearning for a better future, which is the most vivid footnote of the slogan of the Winter Olympics of "faster, higher, stronger - more united". The program of this opening ceremony reflects subtlety, introversion, tolerance, and respect for the meaning and value of the existence of each life, "The light rain on the sky street is as moist as crisp, and the grass color is close but not there." The most is the benefit of spring of the year, and it is better than the smoke and willow full of imperial capital." Returning to nature and revering life embodies the belief that no spring will not come. Throughout the ceremony and performance, the seemingly weak grass, the unknown trumpet boy, the children in the fuping mountains, and the torch that connects the names of the participating countries around the world reflect the tenacious and tenacious spiritual light of the Chinese like grass everywhere. As IOC President Bach has said, humanity will surely overcome epidemics, divisions, conflicts and suspicions to usher in the spring. "The seeds of vitality are never pessimistic and sigh, because they are tempered by resistance", perhaps this is the best response to those who try to divide, cling to suspicion, arrogance and prejudice.
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. This is a countdown show. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Yichen
The more ethereal, the longer it is
The third feature of the opening ceremony is the "beauty of the Orient". The beauty of the East comes from the beauty of the spirit, such as painting, the West is more realistic, the East is more freehand, and the aesthetic ethereal is the romance that belongs to the oriental aesthetics. The aesthetics of this opening ceremony are different from the noise and publicity of the previous opening ceremony, and they are not full of vulgarity. Art and technology reunite at the National Stadium, and every picture projects what the aesthetician Winkelmann considers to be "noble simplicity, quiet greatness". Especially in the singing session of the song, the children in the mountains who have just escaped poverty use the simplest voice to travel through time and space to respond to the great Olympic spirit from ancient Greece. This spring, the spirits of the two ancient peoples of the East and the West reunited over the "Bird's Nest", and the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind was once again announced in Beijing in the form of the slogan of "together to the future", perfectly interpreting the Chinese proposition that "civilizations communicate because of diversity, learn from each other because of exchanges, and develop because of mutual learning". "Chinese story, world expression" is a major breakthrough in this aesthetics, ice cube, ice waterfall, real-time dynamic capture, virtual reality and other high-tech are harmoniously unified in the ethereal and beautiful oriental artistic conception, "avenue to simplicity" but "all avenues lead to Rome", many unexpected and reasonable ingenuity reflect the "oriental aesthetic spirit" mentioned by director Zhang Yimou on various occasions. The most unique thing is that the opening ceremony did not end in the burning of the huge torch tower in the traditional sense, but chose the return to the "last torch is the main torch", which is the oriental wisdom that our ancient nation has experienced many hardships and setbacks, which is not only an innovation in the history of the Olympic Games of "less is more", but also another collective aftertaste of the unbreakable truth that all Chinese understand.
On the evening of February 4, the opening ceremony of the XXIV Winter Olympic Games was held at the Beijing National Stadium. This is the Main Torch. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cao Can
This opening ceremony is an encounter in time between China's Lichun and the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, and a snowflake witnesses the symphony of the Olympic Games and the National Games. The Olympic Games, the G20 Summit, the Garden Expo, the World Civilization Conference, and the international grand events again and again, China has not failed the world, and the Chinese literary and art workers have not lived up to this era, surpassing themselves again and again in "telling the Chinese story with affection and strength", finding the road to the rejuvenation of cultural self-confidence, cultural self-esteem, and cultural consciousness, returning to the truth, the people, the simplicity, and the spirit. The opening ceremony was not so much a wonderful Olympic night as a night of glory when the long-lost aesthetics of the Orient returned to the center of the world stage. Economic rise and cultural rejuvenation are the two-wheel driving force of national development, under the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, Chinese literary and art workers have once again contributed oriental wisdom and Chinese solutions to all mankind, so that the world can re-understand the Chinese spirit in the new era. Lichun, a new beginning, a road of China and the world to go to the beautiful road of mankind, is extending under our feet. The dream is ahead, the road is under the feet, and we are moving towards the future together.
Photo| Xinhua News Agency
Source | China Art Daily