Competition posters by Gu Guixiang & Wang Jiahao
Organized by the Education Department of Shaanxi Provincial Government, Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture, Literature and Art Circles Federation of Shaanxi Province, Shaanxi Province Artists Association and Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, the “Silk Road Spirit-The 1st WEST International Design Biennal” is aimed to promote design education and design communication, and to provide a platform for the majority of designers and university teachers and students so as to conduct the mutual exchange and learning, and to give play to creativity and talent as well as to enhance the design cultivation and quality. It is guided and encouraged in the contest that the participants should adhere to “innovative design and reflection design”, and seek the meaning of design in the process of design and apply design to life.
In 139 BC, the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian served his mission to the Western Regions, and spread the culture of Central Plains to the Western Regions, and he also introduced the special goods and culture of the various states in the Western Regions; thus opened the exchange of the Eastern and Western civilizations. From then until the sixteenth century, this road of culture continued to extend, and eventually became a link between the hinterlands of China and the European regions.
In the context of modern theory, through the cultural traits of this road, people named it as — “Silk Road.” The winding “Silk Road” guided every civilization on the Eurasian continent like the scattered stars, which bid farewell to the closure and hostility. With the idea of seeking common ground while reserving differences, and the tolerance and understanding of harmony in diversity, people practiced the cooperation to harvest the win-win results.
Broadly speaking, this is the most ambitious “design completed by human in the Mediaeval Times. In the long history of evolution, this “design” has become the great hub between the continents of Europe and Asia connecting the property, culture, friendship and kinship and provided a broad stage for the inter-regional communication and cooperation.
In 2014, the 38th World Heritage Conference listed the culture heritage application project of Silk Road: “Chang – Tianshan Corridor” jointly submitted by China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in the World Heritage List. In 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the strategic concept of “One Belt One Road”, which won the participation and support by over sixty countries of the Eurasian continent. The historical connotation and interaction paradigm of “Silk Road” still reflects the strong cultural charm. While the cultural values and potential of “Silk Road” as well as the cultural exchanges and cooperation of the front line regions of “Silk Road” are yet to be explored.
“Silk Road Spirit-The 1st WEST International Design Biennal” is designed to reiterate the main function of the visual art and design — “communication and interaction of information” through the naming of traditional cultural patterns. The arduous pioneering spirit of the ancestors and the idea of sharing with the modern people for communication constitute the values ??of the theme. At the same time, this theme gives the metaphor that Xi’an, as the starting point of the Silk Road in the past, what important role it should play in the exchange and development of future design culture — two thousand years ago, the national mission and spirit of adventure of the ancestors embarked from here, which imprinted a profound and long-standing mark for the great history of human communication; today, a new Silk Road represented in the visual form will restart from here, which recombine the wisdom, style and creativity of modern people and display to the world.
More information: Sha Feng, shafeng2588@hotmail.com