"Light beyond the city" - Bulgarian-Chinese public art exhibition

This project "Light beyond the city" - Bulgarian-Chinese public art exhibition included artists and graduate students from the China Academy of Art and National Academy of
Art in Sofia, held in the public space of “Slaveikov” square, a significant and popular site in the center of the city of Sofia. Lantern art is a traditional folk and handicraft that originated in China. It began in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. It was particularly popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Lantern art reflects the ingenuity and originality of the Chinese nation. It integrates abstract compositions, metaphorical sculptural objects, realistic paintings, composite decoration and light moving mechanisms. The art of making lanterns reflects the broad spirit of Chinese culture with strong national characteristics, it is an art form that integrates art, culture and aesthetics and has a vibrant national colour. With the development of the times, this art has embraced new elements and forms creating more sturdy lanterns. 

This is a thematic exhibition developed through site specific artworks and underpinned by the present state of thought about the traditions based on and inspired by light as a medium. The exhibition presents artworks in conjunction with outdoor public space and highlights traditional art lighting techniques combined with contemporary art forms shown within this joint art project to the Bulgarian audience. ‘Light beyond the City’ is the first public art exhibition related to the concept of lanterns and lighting revealed in Bulgaria. Questioning themselves and today’s reality, participants of the event try to create their own understanding of the ‘image’ of a traditional lantern. The artworks on show, simply put, had as its basic tenet an understanding that artists work with meaning, not only with materials, shapes, colours and techniques, and related new technologies. With the temporary character of this show and the aesthetic influence of light as an art form, the exhibition cultivates a new artistic vision and social activity in this public place. 

These artworks invite: the intention to get more attention - engage and challenge the audience – evoke interaction with the public – engage the spectators - make a dialogue with the “Slaveikov” square environment. 

The exhibition will be shown for period of two months during the Chinese New Year Festival at February 2021, inspired by tradition and lighting, with the aim to draw out the beauty of the city’s night scenes, create a new artistic vision of the place and bring different ways of public engagement such as entertainment, education, and unadulterated joy in light. 

 

Zheng Jing and Assadour Markarov

January 20th, 2021

Hangzhou