From May 4 to May 30, 2014, the Dutch artist Henk Visch was invited by Professor Sui Jianguo of the Department of Sculpture, CAFA to unfold a four-week academic communication workshop in the Department of Sculpture. Henk Visch is the professor of the Academy of Fine Arts Munster, and together with 15 students from his school to CAFA for communication and study. In addition, before the start of the course, Henk Visch delivered a wonderful lecture entitled “Thinking of Sculpture”.

The communication workshop was jointly directed by Henk Visch and Yu Fan, teacher of the Department of Sculpture, mainly for the Grade 4 students of the 3rd Studio, and some of the students from the 4th Studio as well as the postgraduates. Professor Yu Fan said that the Department of Sculpture unfolded a short-term international academic communication workshop, aimed at vivifying the academic atmosphere of the Department of Sculpture, thus broadening the academic horizon.

In the first two weeks of the course, the students of China and Germany mainly introduced their works, respectively showcasing the images of their works, mutually communicating, creating and exhibiting. In addition to study, the students together visited the Palace Museum, the Great Wall, and the Ming Tombs. In the last two weeks of the course, under the guidance of Henk Visch, it unfolded a project entitled “Intervention of Spatial Identity”, and they are going to “rebuild” the ground floor of the Department of Sculpture. Henk thought that, with the use of labels, objects and the related information, it could discern the spatial identify, it was possible to change the space of the object in order to give it a new nature and identity. In the study during the two weeks, the 20 students of the Department of Sculpture constantly exchanged exhibition forms with Henk and exhibited their works, and their collective creation will be on display on June 2.

Henk Visch said, in the workshop he was not a teacher but an artist, he hoped to be able to equally communicate with students, instead of teaching knowledge. In addition, he believed that the power of the team could spark more inspiration, and promote each other and enhance growth.

In 2004, Henk came to Beijing for the first time, after that he visited China many times in the past decade. Three of his works were left in China, respectively located in the Olympic Park, China Sculpture Museum in Datong and Tsinghua University. Speaking of his impression on China, he said he was surprised by Chinese enthusiasm for luxury goods. He believed that European people hoped to share with others instead of being so keen on luxury goods, while the Chinese specially emphasized on self consciousness and identity. In addition, Chinese people treated artworks as luxury goods, but in his opinion, rather than revealing the individual identity, artworks are things that people want to own to express their character.

About the artist

Henk Visch is a sculpture artist from the Netherlands, a graphic artist and illustrator. He was born in Eindhoven (a southern city of the Netherlands), once represented the Netherlands when attending the Venice biennale exhibition. Before the age of 30, Henk had been a street performer which was as a purely entertaining performance artist, he freely lived like a hippie. After the age of 30, he aspired to become a sculptor.

In the creative concept of Henk Visch, he focused on the concept of “memory”, and specifically talked about maintaining memory, as well as the mechanism of recalling memory. In his view, the materials in the mind were the carriers of memory, when facing a new situation, we find some similarities between the memory of the past and the present. He believed that memory could be stored in the sculpture. In addition, he didn’t believe that in creation, it is important for an artwork to accurately imitate the object, and a work could be given multiple meanings. As an artist, he had the responsibility of seeing the world, and of linking himself and creation with the world.

Text: Ye Yuanfeng, Photo: Hu Zhiheng/CAFA ART INFO

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO