HANGZHOU, China, April 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — On April 4^th, 1928, Mr. Cai Yuanpei delivered a speech titled Academies Should Be Set up for Academic Research at the opening ceremony of the National Academy of Art (now China Academy of Art (CAA)), where he proposed that the University Council (the then Educational Ministry) should establish an academy of art along West Lake, to create beauty, so that present and future generations could get rid of superstition, harbor the love for beauty and thus obtain a true life. In the spring of 1928, China’s first national institution of higher art education, the National Academy of Art, was created, marking the beginning of higher art education in China.

Last year, CAA in a series of activities commemorating its 95th anniversary reviewed its educational journey, promoted its artistic propositions, and highlighted its achievements, as it embarked on a new journey toward becoming a world-class century-old prestigious school. In 2023, CAA started “CAA Report”, a platform for launching cultural and creative initiatives on April 8 every year—the anniversary of the opening ceremony of the National Academy of Art. This event is expected to evolve beyond the Academy to become a celebration of Chinese culture, art, and the entire creative industry. The Academy announced, at its 2023 CAA Report, the inauguration of the School of Calligraphy, the Institute for Advanced Study in Chinese Cinema, and the School of Social Aesthetic Education, as well as two brand-new entities: CAA Cosmos, and Meta Art Academy.

As this year marks its 96th anniversary, the Academy unveiled five initiatives at its 2024 CAA Report, namely, the “CAA Century Masters” Creation and Research Project, CAA Changjiang Delta Art Action, CAA AI Center, Photography Center of Better China Institution, and Research Center of Art-Synesthesia. The century academic project, the innovative art initiative, and the three interdisciplinary research centers are underpinned by CAA’s century academic strategy.

As President Gao Shiming stated, “Today’s CAA Report unveils a splendid array of initiatives, from projects that delve into the Academy’s historical context and shape the legacies of our ‘Century Masters’, to efforts that advance high-quality development in the Yangtze River Delta, along with exploring the future possibilities of interplay between Artificial Intelligence and Artistic Intelligence. Here, we behold the ‘classical studies’ of a century-old prestigious school, the ‘practical education’ that both roots deeply in Chinese soil and promotes a Better China, as well as the ‘creative education’ that transcends disciplines and integrates the Way and objects. These fresh endeavors illustrate the expansive vision and lofty ambitions of all CAA members.”

Launch of the CAA Century Masters Project to encapsulate the century legacies of CAA

In its 96-year journey, CAA has nurtured and brought together many art masters with the greatest achievements in modern Chinese art history, such as Lin Fengmian, Pan Tianshou, Huang Binhong, Liu Kaiqu, Wu Dayu, Ni Yide, Fu Baoshi, Chang Shuhong, Li Keran, Dong Xiwen, Wu Guanzhong, Zao Wou-Ki, Zhu Dequn, Luo Gongliu, Li Zhenjian, and Fang Zengxian. It has been known as a cradle of art masters in China over the past century.

“CAA Century Masters” Creation and Research Project. In 2023, CAA formally unveiled its “CAA Century Masters” Creation and Research Project that will run through its centenary in 2028. In the past year, we held the “The Way Is Infinite: Centennial Retrospective Exhibition of Zao Wou-Ki“, academic forums in commemoration of the 120th anniversary of Mr. Lin Wenzheng’s birth, the 120th anniversary of Mr. Wu Dayu’s birth and the 130th anniversary of Mr. Yan Wenliang’s birth, document exhibitions, and many other significant activities. These exchanges and dialogues reviewed CAA’s history and shared insights on its present and where it is heading.

We erected statues of masters. By putting up the statues that represent our enormous respect for our past generations and our art aspirations, we integrated their legacies more deeply into our campus elements while conveying the profound history and culture of the Academy.

We held exhibitions and seminars in commemoration of masters. Our exhibitions of masterpieces and precious documents as well as in-depth academic symposiums presented masters’ artistic attainments and personal charm and amplified their artistic ideas and spirits to promote art development in contemporary China.

We carried out social aesthetic education activities focused on masters. Our lectures, workshops, art experiences and other activities gave the public the chance to feel the positive impact of art on their body and mind and appreciate the glamor of CAA over the past century.

Launch of the “CAA Changjiang Delta Art Action” to explore new models for high-quality development

CAA Changjiang Delta Art Action. CAA has deep connections with Shanghai through academics and historical legacies. On February 26, 1928, the third meeting of the Art Education Committee took place at the National Conservatory of Music at 10922 Xiafei Road, French Concession, Shanghai. The meeting resolved to relocate the permanent venue of the Committee to the National Academy of Art, and thus Shanghai became the key place of activities and source of students of the academy. That marked the beginning of a “Century Initiative” between CAA and Shanghai.

On December 27, 2023, CAA and the Shanghai Municipal Government entered into a strategic cooperation agreement in Shanghai, opening up new opportunities for the co-creation and sharing of high-quality resources for the integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta.

DIU (Shanghai) Center Initiative. On December 15, 2023, the DIU (Shanghai) Center Initiative between CAA and Yangpu District of Shanghai was formally launched. DIU (Shanghai) Center aims to become an innovative alliance integrating “art, science, business and education”.

Yangtze River Delta Cultural and Art Hub Initiative. In 2024, CAA will hold significant annual shows in Shanghai in collaboration with cultural and art facilities in the city. Among them are (1) “Shanghai Youth Technology Art Exhibition”, an innovative exhibition that integrates technology and art, to be mounted by the School of Innovation & Design and the School of Intermedia Art of CAA; (2) “CAA Chinese Painting Exhibition”, the first national tour exhibition to be held in November by the School of Chinese Painting of CAA since its inception.

Yangtze River Delta Global Design and Creative Community Initiative. CAA will join hands with Shanghai to revitalize industrial legacies, historical districts and other spaces to create a world-class creative community. The aims are to provide a maker space and idea commercialization platform for young creators and alumni entrepreneurs, foster the coordinated development of design and creative industries, advanced manufacturing, modern services, and strategic emerging industries, and boost the seamless production of intellectual property and the digital asset right confirmation of high-quality cultural content, films, TV shows, dramas, games, animations, books, etc. as well as their industrial application in the Yangtze River Delta.

Social Aesthetic Education Platform Initiative. In 2024, CAA plans to launch multiple art communication bases in primary and secondary schools and communities in Shanghai to offer general art knowledge courses and offline art experience workshops to the public.

CAA Zhangjiang Campus Enhancement Initiative. Based on its positioning as an “international cradle of innovation”, the campus will launch an array of interdisciplinary research institutes and labs to explore new models and mechanisms for international education cooperation.

Launch of Three Centers: A shared vision for the future of art education

Photography Center of Better China Institution

In 2021, CAA established the Research Institute of Better China Initiative, aimed at becoming a platform integrating an art think tank, public aesthetics, and social innovation. Over the past three years, the institute has created China’s first database of Better China cases, highlighting over 1,000 cases of outstanding cultural and artistic contributors to the Better China Initiative. It has also established a robust network of contributors and an interdisciplinary, interdomain think tank, harboring philosophers, scientists, artists, entrepreneurs, engineers, and civil servants. By analyzing concrete practices, the institute has identified new development models, such as urban and rural cooperation, integration of four sectors, and collaboration across culture, education, business, and tourism, providing creative energy for cultural communication and the Better China Initiative.

Building upon these endeavors, the Photography Center of Better China Institution was co-founded by People’s Daily Online and CAA, with the participation of Chinese photographers. This platform gathers, summarizes, and generates visuals of Better China. Its mission is to create historically, contemporarily, and futuristically significant visuals of China, ultimately producing the Better China Visuals Chronicle.

The center aspires to become a comprehensive and multidimensional visuals database and visual release platform, with plans to collect a million visuals from individual photographers each year and gather visuals documenting the Chinese revolution and social evolution around the world. These visual records will showcase the progress of building a Better China, contribute to urban and rural advances and revitalization, and highlight the efforts of contributors and thinkers to document the past and present of China.

CAA AI Center

As President Gao Shiming stated, “The core mission of art is to discover the world and humanity.” Artists’ mission is to create, cultivate, and unearth new human experiences, and create a world filled with infinite possibilities.

The fast pace at which applied AI technology and tools are self-improving has affected education, culture and artistic creation drastically. What we should think about now is how humanity evolves with the two forms of AI, that is, Artificial Intelligence, and Artistic intelligence. As artificial intelligence advances, we become increasingly in need of artistic intelligence. Against this backdrop, CAA adopts new technology and embraces the AI era. It established an AI center aimed at “driving artificial intelligence with artistic intelligence and heralding the next era of super artificial intelligence through art.”

CAA AI Center integrates research across art, artificial intelligence, engineering technology, and computer science, utilizing artistic intelligence to connect and drive artificial intelligence. The research on the two forms of AI means experiments on multidimensional AIGC applications and the development of AI education use cases. Beyond creating digital objects, the center delves deeper by exploring digital subjects. These new digital subjects will co-develop with both artificial intelligence and artistic intelligence, gradually forming a composite “Human + AI” entity capable of mastering and even surpassing algorithms.

Located in Beijing and Hangzhou, the center will leverage CAA’s strengths to cultivate a national digital cultural and creative community that integrates industries and education, while working with globally renowned platforms like the Rouyuan Think Tank Joint Research Office of the National Soft Power Center. CAA AI Center, led by Prof. Chen Yan, serves diverse purposes: academic experiments, creation, and research, as well as industrial and societal applications.

Research Center of Art-Synesthesia   

The Research Center of Art-Synesthesia (RCAS) is the world’s first institution dedicated to synesthesia study from an artistic and humanistic perspective. It aims to explore the consciousness of the origin of art, pioneer combinations of senses and art across disciplines, go beyond the physiological definition of synesthesia in neuroscience, and expand the application of art-synesthesia in the humanistic dimension. Viewing synesthesia as a bridge between science and art, RCAS investigates how different senses interact within classic artworks, to reach a pinnacle of art where “poetry and paintings are intertwined” and “music is the ultimate expression of art,” ultimately reopening the path toward cultivating well-rounded individuals. 

Employing scientific methods, RCAS conducts interdisciplinary research on topics such as vision, hearing, smell, taste, consciousness, language, space, color, and psychology. These efforts will connect domains like vision and music, poetry and painting, color and tone, light and architecture, taste and psychology, and fragrance studies and olfactory aesthetics. Additionally, it is open to collaboration with academics. A global multidisciplinary community dedicated to art-synesthesia research has been established under partnerships with global prestigious universities, such as Harvard, Yale, the University of Vienna, and the University of Bristol, as well as Chinese art schools, including the Central Conservatory of Music, the Chinese National Academy of Arts, Zhejiang University, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, and Zhejiang Conservatory of Music.

In 2023, RCAS hosted China’s first-ever Synesthesia & Liberal Arts International Forum, exploring the exciting intersection of cognitive neuroscience and art. Prof. Fan Jingzhong, a renowned art historian and doctoral supervisor at CAA, serves as the director of RCAS.

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SOURCE China Academy of Art

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