Life is short, while art is endless. With the reading of documents, people can cross time and space, access the ancient and modern life. Through the inheritance of literature, generation after generation, with the idea of the present people can communicate with the wisdom of ancient people; so that with the continuation of reading and the heritage of knowledge, we arrive in the eternal world.
Proposed by Prof. Yin Ji’nan, Dean of the School of Humanities, CAFA, the first session of the Exhibition of the Collections and Documents by the Teachers from the School of Humanities, CAFA has held, which focuses on reading, thinking of the issue of reading and a collection of books. Qi Cong (Han Dong), a student from the undergraduate 2017 of the School of Humanities, serves as the curator and the whole exhibition team is composed of undergraduate students from all grades. It is a bold attempt to allow undergraduate students to plan, prepare, arrange and operate an exhibition by themselves.
The exhibition was officially opened to the public on March 23, 2017. It is located in the Special Reading Room of the School of Humanities Library on the 2nd floor, Building 14, the Central Academy of Fine Arts and they are all private collections of teachers from the School of Humanities. This exhibition received a total of 12 sets of exhibits provided by 7 teachers including Yin Ji’nan, Li Jun, Zheng Yan, Huang Xiaofeng, Wang Hao, Chen Jie, Wang Yun. These exhibits extend to a generalized visual cultural material from a narrow book; each exhibited work has a deep connection with the collector, thus it outlines the “map of knowledge”. In order to better showcase the exhibited works, the team from the document exhibition carried out a detailed academic analysis on each work, formed the exhibition manual and at the same time, it electronically records the important information, using the computer and touch screen of the exhibition to display it. The curatorial team hopes to display items, exhibition manuals, electronic images, maintaining the academic nature of the exhibition and shortening the distance between the audience and exhibits.
The lavish composition of the exhibits encourages viewers to think of the connotations of the vocabulary such as “books”, “documents” and “collection” again; the diversified design of the exhibition encourages viewers to re-examine their own way of “reading” and “watching”; the meticulous arrangements makes use of the small space efficiently, which further reflects the “boutique consciousness” of the School of Humanities. The curatorial team hopes that it will be able to perfectly showcase these meaningful collections, thus to reflect the human spirit behind the reading.
It has taken many years from the initial idea to the opening for the exhibition of the collections by the teachers from the School of Humanities. The preparatory process of the document exhibition is zigzag; today it presents an exhibition that is the heritage of the academic spirit itself.
In the Central Academy of Fine Arts, it gave birth to the first department of art history, which was the predecessor of the present School of Humanities, dedicated to the study of the history of art and art theory, to showcase the glory of humans. As the material existence, the art is also the cohesion of the glory of the human spirit; as a carrier of thought, the books are also the embodiments of human spiritual achievements. Human life is limited, but the glory of people is infinite; in the process of the development of the School of Humanities’ continuous examining, absorbing, studying, and pioneering of the artistic achievements of people, it makes the glory of people spread through one generation after another generation, and this is endless; in the process of the School of Humanities Library’s dedication of the building of a magnificent map of the human spirit, it makes people cross the space and time to become a close friend of the ancient sages, to achieve the infinite spiritual height. In this process, the “man” that is being the individual is combined with the “human glory” that is being the whole, being immortal. And the pursuit of the eternal is further content for the current document exhibition.
The document exhibition continues to the end of this semester.
Text and photo by the organizer, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.
About the Exhibition
Venue: Special Reading Room of the School of Humanities Library on the 2nd floor, Building 14, the Central Academy of Fine Arts
Opening Hours: From Monday to Friday (closed on the afternoon of Wednesday)
9:30 am - 11:00 13:30 - 16:30
Exhibits supported: Yin Ji’nan, Li Jun, Zheng Yan, Huang Xiaofeng, Wang Hao, Chen Jie, Wang Yun
Curator: Qi Cong (Han Dong)
Curatorial Assistant: Liang Wenting, Shi Shang, Liu Tong, Tang Peihao
Document Proofreading: Tang Peihao, Liu Tong, Dong Shuai, Kang Jiaxuan, Xu Fanhong, Liao Yu
Book Scanning: Shi Shang, Liang Wenting, Zhang Peng, Qi Cong (Han Dong)
Logo Design and Manual Design: Shi Shang
Poster Design: Liang Wenting
Analysis of the Exhibits:
Demeures Inspirées et Sites Romanesques – Qi Cong (Han Dong)
A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method – Tang Peihao, Qi Cong (Han Dong)
Berthold Laufer’s Study on Sinology and Anthropology – Liu Tong, Qi Cong (Han Dong)
“The Lecture of Chinese History of Art” – Liu Tong
Liang and Lin – Zhou Mi, Liang Wenting
Album, photos and stamps – Liao Yu
“Introduction to Future Metaphysics” – Sun Danni
“Zeng Ji Liu Ye Qu Pu” – Shi Shang
“Ying Zao Fa Shi” – Tang Peihao
“Chinese Artists” – Tang Peihao
“Fu Lei Translation Anthology · Art and Philosophy” – Li Min, Liang Wenting
“Wu Bu Xin Guan” – Zhang Peng
