THE EXHIBITION
Il Mondo di Han Meilin a Venezia – The World of Han Meilin in Venice
OCTOBER 28TH 2016 - FEBRUARY 28TH 2017
From 10am to 6pm - Closed on Tuesdays and on December 24th-26th and January 1st
Free Entry
Ca' Foscari Exhibition Space
Dorsoduro 3246 - Venice
Water Bus Line 1 - Ca’ Rezzonico or San Tomà
The Hahn Meilin exhibition at the Ca’ Foscari Exhibition Space opens to the public on Friday October 28th. China's all-round artist, Meilin is considered by his country as a ‘National Treasure' and was named in 2015 by UNESCO as "Artist for Peace". Han Meilin has chosen Venice as the evocative starting point of a world tour that will take him to the Americas, the Middle East and India as well as to Europe.
The exhibition is organised by the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, the Venice International University, the China Italy Dialogue Association and the Han Meilin Foundation and takes place in the Ca’ Foscari Exhibition Space until February 28th 2017.
“As well as showcasing to the world that Ca’ Foscari puts its primary focuses on teaching and research - Michele Bugliesi, Rector of Ca’ Foscari - the exhibition is also proof that knowledge should not be constricted to the theoretical sphere but can open its doors to students, their families, the world of business and work, and to the entire wider public, bringing the issues covered in learning activities within everyone’s reach”.
"Han Meilin – comments Ambassador Umberto Vattani, Chief Curator of the exhibition along with Professor Zhao Li - has been able to create his own fantastic universe, populated by graceful creatures or by animals interpreted according to the positive or negative characteristics attributed to them by Chinese tradition, or even with objects, inlaid woods, textiles, bronzes. Meilin can create art forms with roots to the past yet also with an imaginative projection into the future. "
"We brought over 200 masterpieces to Venice from the rich collections that populate the three museums dedicated to Meilin by the Chinese Government in Beijing, Hangzhou and Yinchuan - continues the Ambassador. In all of the works there is an unmistakable imprint, typical of the Master: a praise of incompleteness tied to an ever changing world. He is himself, in his art, a living testimony of this conception. He quotes Leonardo: “As iron rusts from disuse (…) so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind”. A maxim that leads him, at age 80, to the challenge of a world tour that he is undertaking because, according to him, he has four times twenty years."
For visitors, the exhibition is an experience that captures all the senses and reveals the multiple talents of an artist who refuses boundaries between one form of expression and another. In doing so, the Master inspired by the stunning and vast history of Chinese civilization, revisits it with a modern eye. Not only paintings, drawings, sculptures, works of design, but also fabrics, ceramics, inlaid woods, irons and tools make the exhibition a trip over the inscrutable horizons of such a versatile man.
"The arrival of Han Meilin to Venice - highlights the Ambassador -represents another challenge for him and follows the inexhaustible intellectual curiosity of the artist who is also keen to test himself on a material that he has not yet had experience with: blown glass."
The Exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Cultural Activities and Tourism, and the Municipality of Venice.
Instagram: @hanmeilinvenezia
Facebook: Il Mondo di Han Meilin a Venezia
THE HONORARY FELLOWSHIP
The Ca’ Foscari University of Venice has presented Han Meilin the title of Honorary Fellow. The award ceremony was held on Friday, October 28th at 11:30 in Aula Magna "Silvio Trentin" at Ca’ Dolfin - Dorsoduro 3833.
Programme
Welcoming address
Michele Bugliesi
Rector of Ca’ Foscari
Laudatio
Marco Ceresa
Director of the Confucius Institute of Venice
Proclamation and delivery
Lectio Magistralis
Han Meilin
古老 的 现代
An Ancient World and Modern Ways
The lectio magistralis was in Chinese with a translation into Italian.
