CAEA - Center for the Art of East Asia

Projects

Resources

The Digital Scrolling Paintings Project

The Center for the Art of East Asia has initiated a project to create a database of Chinese handscroll paintings in digital format. Handscroll painting is a distinctive format of traditional East Asian painting implying a specific manner of viewing paintings. Meant to be unrolled horizontally and viewed section by section in a continuous movement that progresses in space and time, handscroll paintings call for a special kind of engagement or participation on the part of the viewer. This temporal and spatial quality is lost in slides or reproductions in books, but can be simulated in the digital medium.

http://scrolls.uchicago.edu

Digitized sections of a handscroll that are "stitched" together can be viewed as a continuous virtual image in the computer. Thus, one can scroll, stop and look more closely, or go back, much as one would experience the actual painting. The digital imaging liberates the viewer from the single viewpoint presented in photographs and slides and creates an exciting tool for teaching and the study of these works of art. It allows the addition of text and sound annotations, and zoom properties along with the scrolling capability. This technology is especially important considering the difficulty of seeing the very fragile and priceless original paintings, which are rarely displayed. We are creating a prototype for the digital scrolling paintings that can be used to build a database of paintings for teaching and research purposes. For this project, the Center has received support from the Provost's Program for Academic Technology Innovation.

We foresee broad applications and opportunities for interdisciplinary uses of this technology. We anticipate building on this technology with other study programs and institutions such as museums and expanding the project into related areas of art, including Japanese and Korean paintings and other media.

Xiangtangshan Caves Project

http://xts.uchicago.edu/introduction/

Phoenix Hall Project
This project represents an attempt to understand new aspects of one of the oldest and most important art forms in Japan and their context, that is, wall paintings and the complex relationships between wall paintings and the architectural spaces for which they were created. Japanese architectural space, from the eighth century until the modern age, was composed of rooms that were defined and separated primarily by sliding doors. The sliding doors were at once both the walls and doors of the individual rooms, and also the surfaces on which famous painters throughout history were commissioned to paint large-scale artwork. These works of art were carefully created in order to function in ways that would be appropriate to the social levels of the inhabitants, to the nature of the building, and to the activities that occurred within the rooms. This project will focus on several neglected aspects of these complex relationships between wall paintings and architectural space, to wit, the kinetic aspect of the paintings and their movement through space, the ensemble function of the paintings and surrounding elements, and the deciphering of hidden meanings behind these complex artistic programs.

http://phoenixhall.uchicago.edu

Contemporary Chinese Art Yearbook
Purpose
The Contemporary Chinese Art Yearbook is as an annual record of major events, activities, works, exhibitions, and publications of contemporary Chinese artists and curators. In addition to serving as a documentary resource, the Yearbook will also provide an analysis of recent theoretical developments and trends in contemporary Chinese art. The Yearbook is a collaborative project among the Hexiangning Art Museum OCT Center of Contemporary Chinese Art, the Peking University Modern Art Studies Program, and the University of Chicago Center for the Art of East Asia. The current advisory committee of the Hexiangning Art Museum is responsible for appointing an editorial committee, for which the head of the Peking University Modern Art Studies program, Professor Zhu Qingsheng, will act as the editor-in-chief. The Peking University group will be comprised of numerous sub-committees (whose members will include influential scholars, critics, curators, artists, etc.) for comprehensive editing. Professor Wu Hung will oversee the University of Chicago group's collection of materials outside of China and translations of sections of the Yearbook into English.

Content
The Yearbook is divided into two large sections: first, documentation of basic facts, and second, analysis of trends and developments.

I. Basic Facts
This section is divided into four main categories: date, place, individuals, and events. Date: This section will comprise of a chronological table of the year, which will be divided into twelve months. Each month will be further sub-divided into ten intervals of time (spanning three days each).

Place: This section will function as an atlas of contemporary Chinese art. Different maps will be created to indicate the location and movement of artists' residences, art schools, sites of major events, etc.

Individuals: This section will be organized according to surname, and will focus specifically on influential artists, curators, theoreticians, and organizers in the contemporary Chinese art community. First, a list of "important individuals" will be chosen and confirmed at the discretion of the Hexiangning OCT Advisory Committee. A special section will also be devoted to the activities of the individuals of the Advisory Committee. Second, a list of "new individuals," will be composed in order to categorize and track the activities of young, upcoming talent and those individuals with sporadic contributions to the contemporary Chinese art world.

Events: This section will be organized according to event. Primarily, this section will record:
1. Various large-scale and themed exhibitions as well as smaller, solo exhibitions. The committee will specify distinctions in exhibition mechanisms and standards of organization for categorization purposes.
2. Organizations. This section will record the activities of Chinese art organizations, associations, academies, societies, etc. This section will be undertaken by the Shenzhen Center for Contemporary Art and Peking University.
3. Collections and the Art market. This section will analyze and record the activities and conditions of the art market and auction houses.
4. Foundations and International Artist Studios.

II. Analysis of Recent Trends
This section follows conditions and trends that have arisen over the course of the year, and will be organized according to varying analytical perspectives. The Yearbook will adhere to a principle of "self-organization" as the connections among "events" arise through divergent relationships. These types of connections can range from an exhibition theme, to a research problem, or even something seemingly spontaneous. A connection will necessarily occur through correspondence in time, location, individuals, or event. However, it is important to note that different meanings become manifest through differing circumstances. When a number of these connections become apparent, they will appear as a trend or phenomenon. This is the greater importance of the Yearbook.

Because contemporary Chinese art activities develop at their own pace, and because the Yearbook documents objective facts, this method of "self-organization" is unavoidable. It will serve as the guiding principle in our subjective study of the relationships that exist among these facts. Moreover, it will help to realize the significance inherent in the very phenomenon of their diversity and pluralism.