Document - HANGZHOU TRIENNIAL OF FIBER ART

Conversation between Liang Shaoji and Assadour Markarov Mr. Varbanov is a teacher who I always respect. During the years from 1986 to 1989, I studied in the Varbanov Tapestry Institute of Zhejiang Academy of Art (China Academy of Art currently), learning the creation of soft sculptures from him. All my experience at that time is still vivid in my mind. I remember that Varbanov was the art consultant of Pierre Cardin while his wife was the general agent of Pierre Cardin in China as well as the organizer of the first Pierre Cardin’s fashion show team in China. When Varbanov was in the period of dying, Pierre Cardin proposed to take him back to Paris from Beijing for treatment, which showed that my teacher Varbanov was a legend.
Weaving and Needle ‘Weaving & We’ is the theme of 2016 Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art. For fiber art, it honors the craft of ‘weaving’; to the triennial exhibition of contemporary art, it strives to touch the chord of heart of the ‘we’. The theme inspires us
The Crafts of Memories: From Keeping Records of Events by Tying Knots to the Art of Fiber At this very moment, I’m weaving an article on fiber art. Clicking the keyboard, I put my thoughts into words; swimming in the sea of words, I fish for the traces of thoughts and phrases that spring up vastly in my mind. While through the physical perception of tattoo, I’m weaving words, images and the meanings behind them. At this very moment, I’m weaving an article on fiber art. Clicking the keyboard, I put my thoughts into words; swimming in the sea of words, I fish for the traces of thoughts and phrases that spring up vastly in my mind. While through the physical perception of tattoo, I’m weaving words, images and the meanings behind them.
Textile Art – Who Are You? The century’s boxing match. A knockout roar of muscle across the stadium. Eubanks strides towards the ring. A spotlight chases after him, half catches up, jig-dances over him, speeds ahead. What’s he got on.
Pondering on Weaving Why is it so significant to study the art of weaving, and how can we conduct the artistic creation in the form of weaving? Before answering these questions, maybe we can first take a look at this picture and feel what’s inside our hearts—We are standing in the middle of modern industrial civilization, surrounded by weaving machines and devices, and a great many woven materials from different periods of time, including silk fabrics from ancient time, sailing knot belonging to sailors, black velvet Qipao bearing the image of a golden peony, parachute that used to fall above the sky, the ruin of Lianfu Garment Factory in Taiwan, yellowed canvas in the dock that had endured sea wind and rain for a long time, a woolen hat that was once wore by your grandpa.We have an up-close and personal contact with these woven materials, in a way we have established a sentimental bond with these materials and come to realize the continuous but rapid evolution of weaving.
Weaving from a Weaver’s Perspective 织，古文为Chinese character 织 is once written as 織. According to Shuowen［Analytical dictionary of characters］, one of the earliest Chinese dictionaries, 織 refers to the collective name of cotton and silk textile, and the combination of threads in both of the vertical and horizontal direction (longitude and latitude) is called weaving. The cloth is woven by the hemp fibers, and silk cloth by silk threads. We can see clearly from Shuowen that as early as in Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), Chinese’s weaving objects are not limited to silk threads, but hemp fibers as well. Any activity involving the threads from longitude and latitude is entitled to be called weaving. In ancient China, longitude is referred to the vertical direction and the latitude the horizontal direction. It is interesting to note that ancient Chinese treated the key principles of feudal moral conduct as the longitude of heaven and the six classics as latitude of heaven. By doing so, the very act of weaving is oftentimes associated with key principles of feudal moral conduct and six classics, and the art of weaving is closely connected to the profound Chinese civilization.
The World of Weaving Weaving & We · Introduction to 2016 Hangzhou Triennial of Fiber Art In 1947, Mr. Fei Xiaotong wrote in his book From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society: “Our nation is indeed inseparable from the soil. Our glorious history stems from the soil; therefore nature is bound by the soil.” Recently, British science writer Philip Ball has regarded China as a civilization closely related to water. He thinks that water has a great influence on our lives, from daily life to philosophy. Thus, “It forms an extremely close relationship among hydraulic engineering, domination, incorruptness and metaphysics.” I would like to point out that weaving also has a very special meaning in China. Weaving does not only mean weaving. It also becomes a knowledge and a method of our life. Weaving is the integration of horizontal and vertical layout as well as the connections between “the longitude and latitude”. Therefore, we can say that weaving exists as both the material of our cloths and the philosophy of our life; it guides the exploring process from the outside to the inside. We have a sense of personal identity within it.
Weaving Art Produces A Heaven on Earth Mankind has a long fabrics-using history, for example, straws were used to make clothes and ropes were applied to keep a record of events. These were all fabrics-based skills acquired by ancient people. Fabrics are also an integral part in our daily lives. However, it was relatively late for fabric art to come into being as an independent art form. It was only till the 20th century did fabric art witness booming development as an independent artistic category under contemporary art. Weaving is indeed a modern but ancient art, incorporating the expressive function of both painting and sculpture and the morphological characteristics of both graphic design and three-dimensional design. Weaving contains the beauty of both visual effect and tactile sense, surprising us with brand-new aesthetic experience. As an art with greater openness and compatibility, modern fabric art now expands rapidly in other areas, in particularly towards public art and real life, demonstrating unlimited creativity and artistic expressive force.
Towards a New Interface between Art and Science Liang Shaoji is one of the most unique, singular and even eccentric figures in the contemporary art scene in China. For three decades, he has been working with passion, obsession and quasi-exclusively with unusual partners-silkworms.