24 June–31 August 2012
Academy International Visual Arts (AIVA)
66 Shaanxi North Road, 4th Floor
Shanghai, 200041, China
Hours: Mon–Fri, 10–5pm
onshow.aiva.com.cn
www.aiva.com.cn
Based on China’s developing high standard of education, the Academy of International Visual Arts (AIVA), Shanghai, was established in 2005 as an international bridging academy for art and design between China and the UK. AIVA offers two courses in art and design at Foundation and Pre-Masters Studies level to Chinese students, specifically to undertake Higher Education courses and postgraduate study in art and design at UK universities. The courses are carefully designed with eight curriculum areas offered in Fine Art, Photography, Visual Communication, Animation and Moving Image, Interior Design, Product Design, Jewellery Design, and Architecture, presenting a combined and complementary structure of art and design education.
AIVA is a creative and cultural hub with multi-functioning work studios, a lecture room, a dedicated jewellery workshop, a small library, and an established contemporary exhibition gallery ‘Star Space.’ It encourages and develops an experimental mode of art education with a cross-cultural, interdisciplinary, and international approach through the use of diverse teaching methods and assessment criteria. To encourage further creative and academic engagement with the art and design scene locally in Shanghai, China, regionally and internationally, AIVA regularly delivers an innovative programme of activities and events to the students and the public, including a detailed lecture series where guest speakers from Chinese and Western art and design backgrounds are invited to share their experiences and expertise. Other activities include practical workshops, short courses including a ‘Portfolio Enhancement Course,’ fieldtrip visits to contemporary art and design museums and galleries, and contemporary art and design exhibitions and events at AIVA’s ‘Star Space’ gallery.
Currently on display at AIVA until 31 August 2012 is the Summer Show 2012, a group exhibition showcasing fourteen young art and design graduates from 2011–12. This new generation of creatives from China has been working within and between five different art and design disciplines of fine art, jewellery design, product design, animation and moving image, and visual communication. Students’ works experiment with a diverse range of traditional and contemporary media and processes including straw, moss, rust, glass, silicon, plastic, resin, digital effects, film, ink painting, papermaking, and stop-motion animation, visually interpreting themes and concepts including identity, childhood memory, social issues such as economic and political constraints, and the decay of space. The exhibition has been curated with no given theme so the broad range of creativity on show has the power to speak for itself, where the opening event celebrates the launch of AIVA’s new online catalogue, On Show (onshow.aiva.com.cn). Year upon year, this resource will act as a virtual portfolio of all the students’ art and design works, developing into a globally accessible archive.
Students: Bao Yangyi, Chen Siyu, Lao Zheng, Mao Zihan, Shen Fanqi, Tang Xiyang, Xing Yiyin, Xu Honglu, Xu Ruiqing, Zhang Qian, Yang Qiuyu, Yang Ziyi, Zhang Hangyuan, Zhang Xin, Tang Huaiqin
Curator: Rachel Marsden
Exhibition Design: Rachel Marsden and Savinder Bual
Graphic Design: Zhang Hong and Jimmy Hwong
Exhibition Administration: Natalie Song, Sakura Zhu Feng, Zhi Yun
