Changchun: A Sculpture of a City

On September 2, Changchun World Sculpture Park’s Friendship Fountain Square, the blue sky, the sun and nearly a thousand sculptors and guests witnessed the grand opening of the Third China Changchun World Sculpture Conference, including more than 100 countries and More than 200 foreign diplomatic envoys and sculptors in the region. This conference is the largest and highest-standard comprehensive event in the world of international sculpture. It has been referred to by the industry as the "Olympic" of the sculpture world.

The city of Changchun, which was once known as the cradle of China’s largest automobile industry city and the New China movie industry, was once known as “Oriental Detroit” and “Oriental Hollywood”. Now it has added a new city card. - "City of Sculpture".

After 11 consecutive international sculpture exhibitions and two international sculpture conferences, 645 sculptures created by 580 sculptors from 216 countries and regions have now settled in Changchun. The number of countries even exceeds the number of countries with which China established diplomatic relations. The quantity has become a “city of sculptures in the world” and has become a sculpture park with world-renowned and influential power. It has become an art resort for the collection, exchange, and creation of the world's sculpture art. It is the expectations of Changchun’s Mayor Cui Jie and the future of Changchun. Goal.

Why the sculpture of the North Spring City is a crystallization of human civilization and wisdom, is a concrete manifestation of the spirit of the times, but also an important carrier of urban culture. A heavy industrial city located in the northeastern border of China, neither a deep sculpture art tradition nor a cultural center where academic sculptors gather, why is it such a highly concise art connection with sculpture?

"Fiveteen years ago, there was almost no sculpture in Changchun. We started in 1996." Talking about the origin of Changchun sculpture, Liu Chang, deputy director of the Changchun City Planning Bureau, and the director of the City Planning and Management Office of Changchun City introduced the story. He is a full-time witness and builder of the Changchun sculpture from scratch and from weak to strong. At the same time, he may be the only director of the Bureau of Sculpture at the right level in the country.

In 1996, in Changchun City Cultural Plaza reconstruction project, Changchun City erected a landmark theme sculpture “The Sun Bird” for the first time in the city center. The sculpture is 37 meters high and the top is an abstract sunbird (also known as Changchun Bird). It represents the human's praise for the sun and the pursuit and desire for light. It stands in front of and behind the bronze sculptures of male body sculptures, white marble female body sculptures, and the moon stone in the north side pool. Typical theme of yin and yang coordination. For a time, this group of sculptures and the reconstructed cultural square became a beautiful landscape in Changchun and won rave reviews.

Then in 1997, under the initiative of Song Chunhua, the mayor of Changchun City and the later Deputy Minister of Construction, Changchun began to hold the first China Changchun International Sculpture Invitational Exhibition. It was planned to continue for three consecutive years until the 2000 Millennium Year. It was precisely for Changchun that it collected 100 sculptures. However, at the farewell reception of the third exhibition, sculptors from all over the world actually regretted the end of the exhibition. Even tearfully, the hospitable Chang Chunya decided to extend the invitation. Two years. Two years later, Changchun, which has been deeply impressed by the charm of sculpture, decided to continue hosting this invitational exhibition once a year.

In this way, on the way to the world of sculpture capital, Changchun took a seemingly accidental but indeed inevitable first step.

Another family of sculptors, with the continuous improvement of the level and influence of Changchun International Sculpture Invitational Exhibition, Changchun also held two international sculpture conferences in 2003 and 2008 respectively. The first meeting was attended by representatives from more than 60 countries and regions, and the second session increased to more than 80. It is at the second sculpture conference that Changchun has solemnly read out to the world their commitment to the art of sculpture—"City Sculpture Changchun**": "We will try our best to provide a platform for extensive exchanges between Chinese and foreign sculptors, held once every three years. The World Sculpture Conference promotes the healthy development of urban sculpture and strives to build a beautiful home for humanity."

“Changchun sculpture can be said to be a late start and a high starting point. At present, we have formed a set of effective mechanisms called 'government-led, public participation, expert creation, and administrative management agencies' promotion, which the industry has called the 'Changchun model.' Governments and leaders at all levels attach great importance to and support the promotion of the organization of related events and the development of sculpture arts. On the other hand, the public and enterprises also participate together to provide human and material contributions, plus special management agencies. The sculpture office has long-term coordination to deal with various issues. The artist can create with ease and happiness. Changchun is their other home.” Wang Xuehua, deputy mayor of Changchun who is in charge of urban planning, is also an important promoter of Changchun sculpture development. At the same time, he is still the president of the Changchun Urban Sculpture Society. In the future, all sculptures that must enter the public space in Changchun must be approved by the Society before they can be placed.

According to Wu Weishan, deputy director of the National Urban Sculpture Committee and director of the Arts Commission and dean of the Chinese Academy of Sculpture of the Chinese Art Academy, as early as the 1980s, some cities began construction of urban sculptures, and some also established sculpture parks. Unfortunately, most of them are abandoned halfway. There are few cities like Changchun that insist on paying attention to, building, and collecting sculptures for fifteen years. “I saw that they constantly maintained sculpture works, organized various studies and forums, carefully collected all kinds of sculptures and gave artists high courtesy. They were very impressed. Changchun is truly respectful of artists, and they have the cultural content of sculpture. With a deep understanding and understanding, it is also possible to gather a group of artists."

Changchun provided free materials and two-month accommodations for artists from all over the world attending the invitation exhibition. This provided sculptors with an excellent platform for creation and exchange. Therefore, more and more artists wishing to participate in the invitation show. The 104 sculptors who participated in the exhibition this year are selected among more than 400 sculptors worldwide. They are all outstanding artists who represent the country’s artistic characteristics and the highest level of sculpture. Artists who have come once often want “to come back next year”. The sculptor Irene Na Garcia from Brazil is one of them. The warm and hospitable Changchun left him a very good impression on his first visit to China. The old man dressed in a black Tang suit and a dragon-inspired silk trousers adorn Chinese-style buttons. He said he most admired Mao Zedong. He also deliberately chose to wear an octagonal hat. “I liked it too much, especially like the smiling faces of the *** people. China is such a rich, active and full of life that gave me a strong inspiration, so that I overturned the original work twice and finally created this completely. Sculpture "Inner World" made of natural materials."

“In order to familiarize artists with understanding China, we brought them into factories, rural areas and hot pots. They also taught them to learn calligraphy, Chinese painting and even Tai Chi. Finally, they all fell in love with China.” According to Liu Yan, Changchun is now The name of “Sculpture City” is even louder than in China at abroad. In Europe, Africa and other places, the popularity and influence of Changchun has also been greatly improved. This is inseparable from the word of mouth of the artists. As Wu Weishan said, where the sculptor's works are and where his heart is, the world culture has produced a concrete exchange and collection in Changchun.

The "****" of sculpture art

Today's Changchun has deeply carved its love of sculpture into the bone marrow.

After passing through Changchun City, you can see a statue grazing in front of you or standing in the middle of a road surrounded by greenery in the middle of the road, or standing in the blossoming city square, or just by the roadside. What is amazing is that these sculptures are all unique, extremely artistic, and complement each other's surroundings. Most of them are from famous artists. In the open and undisturbed streetscape, under the backdrop of the sun and the blue sky, the character of the entire city emerged. It must be said that Changchun’s minimalist yet unconventional architectural style, and even the limited articulation of the bridges on both sides of the bridge, may be closely related to the city’s and the art of sculpture.

In 2009, the Ministry of State Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Culture selected 50,000 sculptures from 661 cities across the country since the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. They selected a group of classic masterpieces and 401 sculptors from 216 countries and regions in the world. The 448 works of Changchun World Sculpture Park became the only sculpture park that won the “New China City Sculpture Achievement Achievement Award”. Previously, this sculpture park was also listed as one of the first "national key parks" by the National Ministry of Housing and Urban Development along with the 20 national historic gardens including the Summer Palace and Humble Administrator's Garden.

In recent years, Changchun City has gained close ties with sculpture parks around the world and has continued to collect world masterpieces such as “The Thinker”, “Balzac” and “Bronze Age”, etc., which were copied from the Rodin Sculpture Model by the French Rodin Museum. The level of progress is getting higher and higher. On the basis of the Changchun World Sculpture Park, they also introduced many Chinese and foreign sculpture art products and continuously increased the collection of sculpture art. The Changchun International Friendly City Sculpture Park, Shuangyang International Sculpture Park, Changchun International Automobile Park and Changjiang Northeast Ecological Wetland Park were successively built. A series of urban sculpture parks have attracted a large number of outstanding sculpture works.

Song Chunhua, who has been paying attention to and supporting the Changchun Sculpture Road for many years, has a high opinion of this. He believes that Changchun can adhere to the correct cultural orientation in the construction of sculptures, promote mainstream consciousness, adhere to quality strategy, and reflect the exchange of multiculturalism. Integration, while being able to adhere to serve the public, persist in accumulation, and focus on the process, these valuable experiences and practices are worthy of recognition and learning.

However, Changchun obviously will not stop there. As Changchun Municipal Party Committee Gao Guangbin said, “A city that wants to become a famous city of sculptures is not enough to collect fine sculptures. It should also lead the latest trend in sculpture and become a new artistic idea and art. The origin of schools and artistic models. In this sense, we have many things to do and the road is still long. We must continue to work hard."

The love of sculpture in Changchun has only just begun...