October 23th, 2012, exhibitions "Museum·Thing·Ambition (Bo Wu Zhi)—Contemporary Ink Exhibition of Five Artists" and "On Leveling All Things (Qi Wu Lun)—Recommending Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Youth Artists" were inaugurated at China National Convention Center, Beijing. The two exhibitions were hosted by China Arts & Entertainment Group (CAEG), undertaken by Beijing Shengshiyimeng Culture and Art Exchange Center. Yu Ding, Assistant Dean of the School of Humanities of the Central Academy of Fine Arts served as the academic director; Wang Huangsheng, Director of the CAFA Museum, Zhu Xiaoju, Vice President of the "Art Market Magazine" and planner of the "Art and Wealth" separately served as the Curators of the exhibitions "Museum·Thing·Ambition (Bo Wu Zhi)" and "On Leveling All Things(Qi Wu Lun)".
Wan Jiyuan, Deputy General Manager of the China Arts & Entertainment Group (CAEG), Dr. Klaus Slebenhaar, professor of the School of Culture and Media Management, Free University of Berlin, Fan Di'An, Director of the National Art Museum of China, Wang Huangsheng, Director of the CAFA Museum, Yu Ding, Assistant Dean of the School of Humanities of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Zhu Xiaojun, Curator of the exhibition "On Leveling All Things (Qi Wu Lun)" were present at the opening ceremony.
Yu Ding believes that the on-going "2012 China International Museum Art Products Expo" is the first one of this type in China. It is a large expo about Museum Products with the supports of the Ministry of Culture and China Arts & Entertainment Group (CAEG), co-organized by the Professional Committee of the National Galleries, National Art Museum of China, CAFA Museum and the School of Culture and Media Management, Free University of Berlin. The presentation of the expo will be focused on the derivative products of the art works from the museums, which are authorized by the museums and conducted on the basis of their collections, the expo aims at enabling more people to walk into the field of art.
[gallery link="file" orderby="title"]
The expo consists of two themed exhibitions: one is the "Museum·Thing·Ambition(Bo Wu Zhi)—Contemporary Ink Exhibition of Five Artists", which involves the works of five artists including Wang Huangsheng, Director of the CAFA Museum and Liu Qinghe, Wu Yi, Wei Qingji, Li Gang, staff members of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The other is the "On Leveling All Things (Qi Wu Lun)—Recommending Exhibition of Chinese Contemporary Youth Artists" curated by Zhu Xiaojun, which features 120 pieces of works from more than forty artists. Both of the two exhibitions are related to "things", which means the products of artworks. In some international large-scale museums, the limited reproductions and derived products of artworks are of very high quality, for instance there are a large amount of derived products and limited reproductions brought from MOMA, Guggenheim Museum and Kassel Documenta, etc., which have offered a unique opportunity for Chinese audience to view new kinds of art products for the first time. Therefore, the purpose of the first China International Museum Art Products Expo is to promote the development of the cultural industry of museums. Just as Wang Huangsheng expressed in his speech, "The China International Museum Art Products Expo will play a great role in promoting the development of Chinese artistic derived products, meanwhile we can borrow ideas from foreign museums."
The five artists in the "Museum·Thing·Ambition(Bo Wu Zhi)" are all renowned artists in field of Chinese contemporary ink and wash, who have gained great achievements. They concern about contemporary life and culture from different points of view and levels. The name of this exhibition stems from the book "Records of Natural Science(Bo Wu Zhi)" edited by Zhang Hua of the Xi Jin Dynasty, China, which does not mean their paintings are about the mystic realms, odd things, fairy techniques and immortal woods recorded by Zhang Hua. "Bo" here refers to the museum, means the relationships between artists and museums; "Wu" is a metaphor of art products which have affected every aspects of our life; "Zhi" refers to the ambitions of artists, with the meaning of literati intellectuals expressing their ambitions through objects. "Museum·Thing·Ambition(Bo Wu Zhi)" conveys the shared belief of the five artists, that is "Bo" stands for the condition, "Wu" serves as the basis while "Zhi" acts as the root.
The "2012 China International Museum Art Products Expo" adheres to the principle of "popularizing the culture of international artistic derived products" and has opened a new way and lay a solid foundation for the development of China's artistic derived products. It is reported that the exhibition will last until October 26th, 2012.
