HANGZHOU, China, Dec. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The 4th edition of "Endless Mountains – An Exhibition of Art and the Tang Poetry Road: Mountain Trail of Infinite Longing" took place at the Gallery of Calligraphy and Painting Channel, Beijing, China between November 4 and 21.
The exhibition was hosted by China Academy of Art (CAA) and the Central Digital TV Chinese Art Channel, organized by the Research Development & Innovative Office, CAA and Gallery of Calligraphy and Painting Channel, and co-organized by the Institute of Classic Chinese Art, CAA and Dunhuang Culture and Tourism Group, with execution advice from China National Arts Fund Management Center and sponsorship from the China National Arts Fund as part of its efforts to publicize, communicate, and promote China’s art projects.
Centered on the powerful influences of the golden age of the Tang Dynasty, the exhibition continued the exploration and study of the "Tang Poetry Road", extending it from eastern China’s Zhejiang to Dunhuang for the very first time. Through an examination of Tang poetry in Dunhuang, it called attention to the cultural exchanges between the eastern and western regions of China and explored the historical routes where interactions between different cultures and civilizations unfolded across time and space. Beijing plays a key role in bridging the eastern and western parts of the country as well as the past and the present. It is where the graceful, restrained Tang poetry of Zhejiang in East China and the bold, unconstrained Tang poetry of China’s frontiers.
This exhibition adopted the theme of "Mountain Trail of Infinite Longing" from Tang-era poet Li Bai’s frontier poem, "The Moon at the Frontier Pass" for its main title, setting an artistic tone and vision that are encapsulated in the saying, "Poetry is like the wind. It travels and can reach the furthest corners of the Earth." It also drew our focus back to "poetry" itself and diverged from the conventional exhibition by doing away with sectioning. Instead, it was presented in the classical structure of a Tang poem − qi (introduction), cheng (elucidation), zhuan (transition), and he (conclusion). The exhibition was a visual, narrative and emotional response to Tang poetry as well as a "poem" composed of artwork.
The exhibits span a diverse range of media from calligraphy, Chinese painting, lithography, oil painting, sculpture, photography, installation, videography, and more and comprise over 90 outstanding artworks from over 80 artists. In terms of layout and displays, novel methods such as displaying poems on stickers and hanging scrolls were employed to draw visitors in visually and immerse them in the emotions and experiences these poems invoke. New media were also leveraged, as could be seen through the use of installations, videos and online digital exhibition halls, to break the mold of a singular, conventional model of presenting the exhibits, eliminate the limitations of a physical venue, and provide an enjoyable, multidimensional experience for the visitors.