深圳市灵狮文化产业集团有限公司
Cultural exchange: a link between China and Italy
China and Italy have in common a long history of culture as the domains of ancient civilizations.
The proposal of the Year of Italy in China was initiated and approved by the two sides during the Italian President Ciampi's state visit to China in 2004. The cultural gala is designed to open a wide window for the Chinese people to look into the Italian people's life and creative culture, thus promoting mutual understanding between the peoples, enhancing the two countries' cooperation in the political, cultural, economic and scientific fields and further boost bilateral ties.
“The Year of Italy in China 2006” was unveiled on January 19th 2006, as a press conference co-organized by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities in Beijing. The event was opened and will be closed by two prestigious exhibitions respectively dedicated to the Renaissance and Pompei. More over, a variety of aspects from the traditional to the contemporary as the arts, cutting-edge technologies, scientific achievements, cuisine and fashion, will be presented during the year 2006.
“Italy, like China, is not only an old country. Based on this common experience of old civilizations, we are also fast thriving into a very modern industrialized country. Based on this common past, in the future Italy and China can proceed hand in hand more easily than the others,” said Italy's Ambassador to China, Gabriele Menegatti to Beijing Review.
With the booming economy of China and the increasing living standard of Chinese people, culture occupies a more and more important position than ever. Thus, throughout the whole Year of Italy in China, culture will promote various aspects of Italian industries in the food-and-wine, tourism, luxury goods, architecture and design, high technology and instrumental goods sectors. It is an opportunity to increase the popularity of Italian products among the middle class in China, as well as an opportunity to further boost Sino-Italian trade relations.
The Italian Renaissance art exhibition: an Art professor's view
As an important component of the Italian year, a total of 86 paintings, sculptures and tapestries of Italian Renaissance masters are presented at the Millennium World Art Museum of the Centennial Altar in Beijing from January 21 to April 23 this year. The Italian Renaissance art exhibition showcases the paintings and sculptures from 12 different museums of Florence, dating from the late 13th Century to the mid-18th Century, which takes visitors through the blossoming and growth of Italian culture.
Though art can be viewed from many different perspectives with different minds. Chen Danqing, a world-renowned painter with his Tibet Series oil paintings and a professor at the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University, comment on the exhibition with his exclusive viewpoint as follows.
The Italian Renaissance was one of the most productive periods in the history of art, with large numbers of outstanding masters to be found in many centers and in all the major fields painting, sculpture, and architecture. However, the art exhibition in Beijing this time can only be taken as a small part of the Renaissance Art.
Actually the real significance of the Renaissance art show is not just on art, it's a means to seek its cultural roots. Where is the root of modernization? It can be traced back to the Renaissance period in 13th to 15th century faraway and the industrial revolution in 17th to 18th century recently. Art acts as the carrier to spread the Renaissance art to the world through the whole western value framework in the form of religion, philosophy, politics, military, economy and technology. The deep roots lies behind the painting art do make your eyes wide open.
While talk about the large-scale performance of "Renewal of Time", Professor Chen Danqing had many good remarks after watching this remarkable performance. It is an event inspired by festivals that took place in Florence during the Renaissance, which symbolizes the relationship between the Renaissance and modern Italian creativity and integrate coordinately with Chinese art. He said, “ the event is a great creation with a new concept of high tech in post modern times, the same equivalence with the performances of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games opening ceremony. The static ancient art exhibition inside the hall matches coordinately with the moving performance outside, along with the music in Renaissance period played by the modern electronic instrumental music, which consists a perfect integration of the past to present of the Italian Culture.
Though he felt regretful at the missing opportunity for the general public due to the poor media promotion and publicity, only a mix of art patrons and passersby watched that great show. There should be more audience for that show.
Environmental Protection: a shining subject for the Italian Year
Environmental protection will be a new shining point during the Year of Italy 2006.
Since 2000, an all-around cooperation on environmental protection is being performed between China and Italy in the field of Integrated Management on Water Resources, renewable energy, urban sustainable development and eco-building, urban waste recycle, sustainable agriculture and capacity building on environmental protection.
To mark the grand 5th anniversary of the Sino-Italian Cooperation Program for Environmental Protection, a special week for the Sino-Italian Environmental Cooperation will be held in July 2006 by the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory (IMET), in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the State Environmental Protection Administration of China (SEPA) and the Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau. Activities will comprehend a Sino-Italian Forum on Environmental Protection, sub-forums, achievement exhibitions under the Program, Sino-Italian Environment and Energy Efficient Building（SIEEB） inauguration ceremony at Tsinghua University and the Center for China Compliance with International Environmental Conventions （4C） Building “first stone” ceremony, Italian Contemporary Architecture Exhibition, Italian Industrial Design Exhibition etc.
During the special week, representatives from the key partners of the Sino-Italian Cooperation Program for Environmental Protection, Chinese training participants who attended the Sino-Italian advanced training program, environmental experts, relevant representatives from enterprises and local government, foreign and Chinese journalists will be invited to attend various activities. For more general public's participation and involvement, series of exhibitions will be held in some open areas such as exhibition halls or parks in Beijing, to fully illustrate the Italian special cultural style of coordinated art and design, and promote a better understanding on the Italian culture and the concept of environmental protection.