"Elsewhere Residency 2" Experimental Field: Creativity Generation and Cross-Cultural Dialogue in Contemporary Art Practice
"Elsewhere Residency 2" - Experimental Field: Creative Production and Cross-Cultural Dialogue in Contemporary Art Practice
- In relation to artist Sarah Christova’s residency exhibition at Dulwich College Beijing
Venue: Dulwich College International, Beijing
Opening Date: March 14, 2025
Opening Schedule:
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: In Conversation: Exploring Art, Collaboration, and Women's Empowerment
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Exhibition Opening and Reception
Organizer: Dulwich College International, Beijing
Co-organizer: Elsewhere Culture
Foreword
Contemporary art, as a continuously self-renewing cultural practice, is driven by its core mission to break through existing artistic paradigms and cognitive boundaries. This breakthrough is not only reflected in the innovation of artistic forms but also profoundly manifested in the transformation of art education models and the deepening of cross-cultural dialogues. Experimental art practices and artist residency programs, as integral components of the contemporary art ecosystem, provide a unique theoretical and practical field for the innovation of art education. At the same time, they serve as bridges for artistic exchange in cross-cultural contexts.
This exhibition adopts the conceptual framework of the "Experimental Field" to explore the role of experimental art practices in the generation of creativity and how artist residency programs can activate the potential of art education through cross-cultural dialogue. Focusing on artistic practices within the cultural contexts of the UK and China, the exhibition aims to demonstrate how experimental art practices disrupt the linear thinking mode of traditional art education, inspire students' critical thinking and creative expression, and further examine how artist residency programs promote the globalization and localization of art education through cultural collisions and knowledge sharing.
By showcasing the experimental works of artists and students, the exhibition explores how experimental art practices, as a methodology, deconstruct the techno-centrism of traditional art education, emphasizing instead the generation of ideas, process exploration, cross-media expression, and the mechanisms of creativity. Experimental practices not only provide students with space for trial, error, and reflection but also encourage them to reposition themselves within multicultural contexts and develop unique artistic languages by breaking disciplinary boundaries.
The exhibition also focuses on knowledge production and cultural exchange within artist residency programs. By presenting the collaborative outcomes of artists and students during the residency, it seeks to reveal how residency programs, through "presence" and "dialogue," dismantle the one-way knowledge transfer model between artists and students, instead constructing a knowledge production network based on equal collaboration. This network not only fosters intergenerational and cross-cultural artistic exchange but also offers a new paradigm for the globalization of art education. In the context of globalization, art education is no longer confined to the transmission of regional knowledge but must cultivate students' global perspectives and local care through cross-cultural dialogue and experimental practices.
This exhibition is not only an academic review of experimental art practices and artist residency programs but also a profound reflection on the future direction of contemporary art education. We aim to propose a more open concept of art education, where creativity generation, cross-cultural dialogue, and social engagement become core elements. We hope the exhibition will spark academic and public attention and discussion on the following questions: How can we balance experimentation and normativity in art education? How can we build a more inclusive art ecosystem through cross-cultural dialogue? And how can we redefine the value and significance of art education in a globalized context?
Curator: Cheng Xi
February 20, 2025
“We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.”
— John Berger, ‘Ways of Seeing’
‘To See is to Make Worlds’ delicately merges concepts of contemporary image recognition, the construction of generative algorithms, and the delicate webs of personal, social and cultural influences which alter the way we experience the world.
All the images in the installation, each originally seen and captured by a different person, are presented together — intersecting and overlapping. This signals towards the illusory nature of ‘seeing’, and refers to the act of ‘perceiving’ as a fragmentary and deeply relative process. A crucial parallel is drawn with our understanding of language, where the abstract words on each panel disrupt the linear and formulaic expectations of description.
Inspired by the notion that the act of observation can affect and change reality, this work ultimately celebrates the complexity of shared perspectives, and the intricate ways they interlace to form entire worlds.
Many of us are familiar with the saying “if a tree falls in a forest…”, but the question here is even more fundamental:
is the tree I see alone different from the tree we see together?
Sara Christova, 2025
