“Art Hyperconnectivity” International Forum Successfully Held in Shanghai

12 Art Pioneers Shared Frontier Perceptions on Art, Innovation, the Public, and Interdisciplinary Empowerment

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SHANGHAI,
CHINA - Media OutReach - 28 November 2019 - The “Art Hyperconnectivity” International
Forum hosted by The Art Newspaper
China came to a successful closure during Shanghai Art Week. Twelve art
pioneers including local and international artists, curators, directors of art
foundations, art patrons, and urban culture brand shapers shared their ample
experiences and perceptions on issues related to history and culture, human
existence and technological evolution, weaving of creative contents and linking
of public projects led by art galleries and institutions, globally and locally
diverse connections enabled by international art festivals, and new brand
culture as well as regional development engine launched by art patrons and
urban culture brand shapers, from the three dimensions of “Art and
Innovation,” “Art and Public,” and “Art and
Empowerment.”

Forum
speakers included Cao Fei, Chen Danqing, Pansy Ho, Liu Chuang, Bérénice Angremy, Christl Baur, Ole
Bouman, Axelle de Buffevent, Mario Mainetti, Christoph Noe, Denis Penet, and Mariano Sardón.

Art and Innovation

Rethinking the Value of Humanity at the Age
of Technological and Social Change

The forum’s first section in the
theme of “Art and Innovation” delved into the issue of how to broaden
and expand the innovation and connection of diverse thinking dimensions based
on artists’ creation, interdisciplinary research on art and neuroscience, and
working patterns of art festivals.

Technological
and cultural innovation in the society was what Liu Chuang explored and
researched into as an artist. He remarked that “the environment in which
these innovations took
place and the
dynamic systems established by these new conditions always hang upon the idea
of ‘ruins’.” Ranging from museums, galleries, the birth of modern
knowledge system, to the aliens and alien planets relevant to the vanishing
minorities in Steven Spielberg’s movies, “it is apparent that the
destruction and construction of culture occur simultaneously, and new cultural imagination is also the fruit
of the vanishing cultural ruins.”

Artist Cao Fei started her speech
with a series of questions pinpointing the root of “Art Hyperconnectivity,”
and emphasized that the works of artists should be more open-minded, open to
and tapped into the practical social realm, and consequently broaden the span
of artistic subjects. Meanwhile, Cao also warned against the excessive
connection among art, consumption, and trend. In view of her observations on
Shanghai Art Week, Cao stated that “to take into account merely
consumerist artworks, current artistic trends and fads, and to reconstruct
second-hand art creation on the basis of second-hand experience, would
inevitably result in another kind of ruins which are of no benefits, even if it
brings forth temporary yet fleeting prosperity.” As Cao averred, “I
am exceedingly concerned about our current situations.” 

Art and Public

Shaping New Community Connections and Urban Development Patterns

Spanning
from Wuzhen, the ancient town of rivers and lakes, to Shenzhen, the southern
city, to Aries in the south of France, and Macao, with a blending of Chinese
and Portuguese Culture, art galleries, design centers, and urban arts festivals
such as international photography festival have significantly activated the
connections of domestic and overseas cultures. Interactions among communities
in terms of urban planning are on-going, so is the resource reintegration of
arts, tourism, and economics. In addition, the developmental dimension and
space of “Art and the Public” is expanding.

Artist, Director of Mu Xin
Museum in Wuzhen, Chen Danqing held the opinion that there were no discrepancies
between urban arts and suburban arts, as he remarked that “apart from
Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, art institutions are now emerging in a large
amount of cities and regions; holding Wuzhen Theatre Festival and Wuzhen
International Contemporary Art Festival could not only make it possible for the
locals to enjoy world-class artworks but also attract people from all over the
country to visit.” Ole Bouman, Founding Director of Design
Society, stated: “The core of Design
Society is to establish connections, and we will devote ourselves into transforming
business decisions along with major decisions at certain historical periods under
the guidance of specific policies into valuable experiences for everyday life
of the public. Throughout this whole process, the role of Design Society would
be ‘facility supplier’, and the audience would be the creator of culture.”

All forum speakers proposed
the conception of “human-oriented,” while throughout the process of
shaping urban culture brands. Pansy Ho, the Co-Chairman and Executive
Director of MGM China Holdings Limited, stated: “As a lifestyle and a
social platform, culture and art events could tap into people’s everyday life,
and become the soft power that unites communities and regions. Taking up the
responsibilities of an urban planner, we should make good use of public art
resources and transform them into public properties and social benefits.
Moreover, it would be of great significance to introduce public art into integrated
resorts and mixed-use properties, so that more social development dividend
could be created and shared.” Speaking of the plan for art development in
Macao for the next decade, Ho indicated that “While Macao government will
take effective actions in aspect of art education,” we are “sparing
no efforts in terms of capital and resources.” Ho was in the hope that
“art would be a sustainable industry, ” and that “more
youngsters would take an active part and set up a burgeoning industry of great
diversity.”

Art and Empowerment

Originating from the Diversity and Creative
New Dynamic of Brands

The third section of this
forum, “Art and Empowerment”, was to invite directors of art
foundations and projects of international brands, critiques of
interdisciplinary art events to discuss how art could bring forth new creative
force and energy in light of their personal experiences and in the aim of
fostering a new creative dynamic.

Mario
Mainetti, Head of Research and Publications of Fondazione Prada,
introduced art and culture events held by the foundation since its inception in
1995, which encompassed contemporary art, performance art, music, photography,
architecture. Fondazione Prada has also successfully held four art exhibitions so
far in Prada Rong Zhai in Shanghai since March 2018, including a solo
exhibition of Liu Ye and the on-going exhibition “Li Qing: Rear
Windows.” “Although we did not underscore the brand of Prada, it
certainly shaped up a larger dynamic in cooperation with foundations, and
facilitate more comprehensive collaborations in art projects,” Mainetti
said. Denis Penet, Associated Art Curator, Audemars Piguet introduced
the background, mechanisms and projects of Audemars Piguet Art Commission. In
light of its brand philosophy “Mastery, Innovation
and Independence ,” the art commission projects attach great importance to
the experimentality of artworks and the conversations among society, science,
and pop culture. Axelle de Buffevent, Style Director of Martell Mumm Perrier-Jouët, elaborated
on specific cases of the dynamic integration of design and the champagne house.
In accordance with its artistic conceptions of “Everyday Aesthetics,”
“Inspirations from Nature,” “Art Synthesis,” and “Craftsmanship,”
Perrier-Jouët encouraged the conversations among artists, designers, and the
brand, while at the same time invites artists to participate in product
designs, and thereby spread its brand aesthetics.

“Art Hyperconnectivity,”
organized by Modern Media with Lead Partner Mercedes-Benz, is the pivotal of a
series of events themed with “Power of Art” during Shanghai Art Week
this November, with MGM China being the Forum Partner.
These thematic art events also included “Asia Art Pioneers” award
ceremony held during the art week and the featured exhibition “Sometimes
You’re the Hammer, Sometimes You’re the Nail” organized by Art Review and Art Review Asia at ZiWU; the exhibition will run utill January 12, 2020.

Art Hyperconnectivity

Organizer:
The Art Newspaper China

Lead Partner: Mercedes
Benz

Forum Partner:
MGM China

Production:
Modern Media

Venue Partner:
Shanghai Tower

Full review of
the forum (Chinese):

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Jn_dsg2A6yspFqPI49_i1w