Recently, the 95th Anniversary Celebration of China Academy of Art (CAA) took place at the Liangzhu Campus in Hangzhou, China. The event culminated during the same period in the grand ceremony of the "Full Opening of CAA Liangzhu Campus and 'Draw from the Sources, Venture with the Greats' 95th Anniversary Academic Events."  

 

In 1928, Mr. Cai Yuanpei, the then Minister of Education, founded the National Academy of Art (now CAA) beside West Lake in Hangzhou, which was China's first integrated national institution of higher learning in arts, commencing tertiary education in arts in the country. Today, CAA has grown into a large institution with five campuses and a community of ten thousand.  

 

The theme of CAA 95th Anniversary is "Draw from the Sources, Venture with the Greats." In its 95th year, CAA embodies an era of confidence, walking in step with greatness, upholding innovation while adhering to its core values, and fostering a perspective of mutual learning among world civilizations. The centerpiece of CAA's 95th-anniversary events is "IWV2023: Mutual-Learning of Civilizations". CAA held a series of academic activities including Panel 21: A Proposal to Leonardo da Vinci, the 1stCAA Synesthesia & Liberal Arts International Forum and the 5th National Art Education Forum.  

 

The project aligns 12 artistic and humanistic directions of the Academy's unique disciplines − "Time, Shanshui, Design, Media, Object, Writing, Image, Literature, and Sci-Fic, Garden, Art, and Knowledge" − with 12 major humanistic directions in natural and social sciences − "Life, Basin, Society, Technology, Belief, Culture, History ,Nation, Relic, Time, Education, and the World." This alignment formed 12 interdisciplinary teams of faculty and students. Over the summer, these teams embarked on global explorations to places such as Lufeng Dinosaur Valley, Amazon Basin, Silicon Valley, Volcanoes in Iceland, Leonardo da Vinci's Residence, Rusakov Workers' Club, Damaidi, Yangjialing Revolutionary Site, and Katsura Imperial Villa and other key sites, seeking the historical and anthropological significance behind art. From November 10 to 13, these 12 teams reconvened at the newly inaugurated Liangzhu Campus to hold the "Reports from the World" image launch event and the "Starplex" exhibition. They shared insights, questions, and findings from their global expeditions - transforming the Liangzhu Campus into a hub of artistic reactions and fostering an exchange of ideas and mutual learning of civilizations.  

 

CAA's goal is to transcend existing concepts of art history and professional views, to reopen the vistas of art and the concerns of the Academy −interpreting the history of civilization through art and understanding art from the height of civilization history.  

 

Learn more about CAA here. 

 

Learn more about CAA's 95th Anniversary here.