The 100,000 Cats Project, one of the highlights of the show, is by far the largest online doodle project. (Photo/CNTV)
With the advent of the digital age when more and more people live with their smart phones 24-7, artists are seeking new narrative subjects for their experimentation.
A just-opened exhibition in the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing offers a discovery of what technology can do for art. Titled 'Moving in Time: B3 plus Beijing', the exhibition merges both the interactive and the interdisciplinary.
The artistic study of time, space and movement never bores artists looking for innovation. The works visualize the results of the studies of some 60 artists, spanning from moving image, multimedia installation, animation to sound demonstration.
The 100,000 Cats Project, one of the highlights of the show, is by far the largest online doodle project. It was undertaken on WeChat, a popular social network software in China. Since its launch last October, the two-month long program had received more than 4 million visits and collected more than 300,000 "meows".
And Ten Seconds Video examines how well and accurately people can express themselves within a time span of only 10 seconds.
Gesture Wall is a collaboration by Fei Jun and Judith Doyle. Fei, the curator of the exhibition and a participating artist himself, explains to us the fun in his piece.
"This piece looks like a wall. When People are passing by, it will capture their movements and convert them into a painting consisting of lines. It lets the public create art using their bodies. After all, there is no art without the participation of spectators," he said.
The exhibition also features a workshop named 'The Logics of Prime Numbers', jointly hosted by Isabel Herguera from Spain and Gianmarco Serra from Italy. Participating students come from different colleges and various disciplines.
In one month they worked together on a short animation, each providing their unique perspective on the same story-line. The making of the animation is presented at the exhibition, inviting the public to give it a try.
B3+Beijing is a collaboration between China's Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Art and Design Offenbach Germany, which launched the B3 Biennial in 2013. Ten pieces at the Beijing exhibition will be selected to join the second B3 Biennial this year, to be held in Germany in October.
"The art of moving image knows no boundaries, compared to traditional paintings bound by methods. So this requires much from the artists for their creation," said Su Xinping, vice president, Central Academy of Fine Arts.
"We need to dig deeper within ourselves to try and bring out our full potential. Also we need to strengthen communication with our contemporaries."
For those wanting to get more involved with art, the exhibition encourages viewers to join its crowd-funding project. Everyone has the chance to become a curator by submitting their own short film productions.
'Moving in Time: B3+Beijing' runs at the Central Academy of Fine Arts until June 21.
