2015年CRI Chinese Artists on A 'Residency Afloat 'to Address Environmental Issues

 

Reporter: Eight Chinese artists and six European artists will set sail for half a month off the Scottish isles¹ to create artwork that can shed light on the plight² of the environment.

This creative venture has been launched by an inter-cultural networking project called 'WHAT HAS TO BE DONE'.

Xiang Yang is one of the participating Chinese artists. He will exhibit a huge architectural installation along the Thames River in October.

Contemporary installation artist Xiang Yang says his past travels served an inspiration for this new art work.

"I have an architectural installation, and I made it out of my fragmented memories about my past travel experiences. Modern aesthetic⁴ values could also be sensed in this artwork. The original materials used in making this artwork were just some old furniture which underwent a facelift to be turned into modern architecture."

But during the upcoming voyage scheduled from July 19 to August 2, Xiang Yang, along with his travel companions, should improvise⁵ a piece of art linked to an environmental theme.

The Today Art Museum, a sponsor of the 'WHAT HAS TO BE DONE' project, selected the Chinese artists for the expedition.

Gao Peng, curator of the museum, explains what they plan to achieve:

"The goal of the trip is actually for the sake of artistic⁶ creation. We've decided⁷ to cooperate with University of the Arts London. We've told the participating artists their voyage at sea is not just for fun, but for generating artworks, which will be on display at two exhibitions to be held in Beijing and London simultaneously⁸."

The project is inspired by German sculptor⁹ and installation artist Joseph Beuys, who sailed as part of a group of artists from 1979 to 1981 to explore the notion of 'journey' and connect with the natural environment. Joseph Beuys is widely known as a provocative¹⁰ environmental activist¹¹ who used his art to raise awareness¹² on environmental destruction.

Chris Wainwright, Pro³ Vice-Chancellor of University of the Arts London, is the leader of artists' expedition team. He is interested in the role that artists like Beuys can play in addressing critical issues of the time.

Xiang Yang thinks the participating artists would be willing to contribute efforts at a time when climate change has become a vital concern among artists.

"The concept of environmental protection would be applied¹³ during our art creations in this artists' sailing program. Today the environment all over the world is badly damaged as a result of rapid economic development. So the goal of our journey is to raise public awareness on the deteriorating¹⁴ environment we live in by means of artists' unique expressions."

During this long journey, artists will have a chance to reflect on their relationship with the natural environment and take advantage of a sort of 'residency afloat'.

It is hoped that this kind of exploration would encourage more and more artists to use their creative work to raise awareness about critical environmental concerns.

For Studio Plus, I'm Xu Fei.

1 isles   

岛( isle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the geology of the British Isles 不列颠群岛的地质
• The boat left for the isles. 小船驶向那些小岛。

2 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

3 pro   

n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者

参考例句：

• The two debating teams argued the question pro and con.辩论的两组从赞成与反对两方面辩这一问题。
• Are you pro or con nuclear disarmament?你是赞成还是反对核裁军？

4 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

5 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

6 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

9 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

10 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

11 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

12 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

13 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

14 deteriorating   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The weather conditions are deteriorating. 天气变得越来越糟。
• I was well aware of the bad morale and the deteriorating factories. 我很清楚，大家情绪低落，各个工厂越搞越坏。