Utopia Quieta

Tao Yuanming, a Jin Dynasty scholar, wrote in the second year of the Yongchu Era (421 A.D.), a text depicting a society free of war and oppression, a kind of ideal world to which the author aspired and which embodied his quests and aspirations in contrast to what was happening at the time. In 1516, Thomas More used the word "utopia" in his book Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu deque nova insula Utopia as a metaphor for an unattainable ideal or imaginary society. With the development of economic globalization, international exchanges and mobility in different humanities disciplines have become an international theme and trend today. At the same time, the word internationalization is an ambiguous term. Proponents hope it will bring unprecedented progress and prosperity to the world; critics claim it will bring poverty, war and even the extinction of developing countries. Industrial civilization was the precondition for the arrival of internationalization: the crisis of modern civilization ushered in a new Era. As the various crises awakened people from the illusion of modern industrial civilization, they prompted us to reflect on existing cultural patterns and think about the future of humanity. Moreover, in the face of the increasingly message-rich media world, living in any corner of the world, we always accept what is happening in our daily lives. The current exhibition entitled Utopia Quieta confronts international problems through the perspective of art: reflecting through art can bring us peace and hope.

The exhibition presents the works of 16 artists from China, Italy, Spain and Greece in the form of performance, photography, installation, printmaking and painting. The artists interpret the proposed theme titled Utopia Quieta through their work accomplished over time with art, a sign of life, dream and hope.