To All Youths, Go Forth and Create!
Speech at the 5thZhijiang International Youth Art Festival
Gao Shiming
In 1932, our founding principal, Lin Fengmian, wrote an essay titledHangzhou of Art. In the essay, he wrote that there are three kinds of beauty in Hangzhou: natural beauty, man-made beauty, and creative beauty. He said that the National Academy of Art (today's China Academy of Art) was a robust, competent institution that created beauty for Hangzhou.
In the past few years, I have emphasized repeatedly that the Hangzhou of today is not only the Hangzhou of Art but the "Hangzhou of Creation". Hangzhou is the powerhouse of a digital economy, the frontier of a smart, online society, and the model city for high-quality development in a new era and amidst a new and changing landscape. The construction and development of the city is in itself a grand act of creation in the midst of Chinese modernization. Artists must get involved−do their part and contribute their share. That is because artists are not only the creators of beauty, but they are also the drivers of innovation. That is why I call upon all youths to go forth and create in our Hangzhou of Creation!
Fifteen years ago, the China Academy of Art (CAA) paved the way for graduation seasons for all art schools across the country by holding the first exhibition for its undergraduate and postgraduate's graduation works. Five years ago, upon the then President of CAA Xu Jiang's call, we further upgraded the CAA Graduation Season. We called upon all sectors of society to work in unison and brought our graduation exhibition to the entire city, beyond our campus and transformed it into the Zhijiang International Youth Art Festival, a city-wide festival that is filled with youthful vibrancy and creativity. Our aim is to transform Hangzhou into an "Unwalled Academy" and a young, lively, and trendy city. In this academy, thousands of young CAA graduates get a chance to showcase their graduation works to the public in a national art education session that is one of its kind, as CAA forges an open relationship with the community and builds a diverse ecosystem for artistic interactions within and beyond the campus.
The themes of the past three editions of the Youth Art Festival reflected the public sentiment and psyche during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the public health crisis in 2020, all of us had the desire for "Being with You in the World". That year, countless youths stepped into Lu Xun's shoes as they gazed upon the world with compassion – "Looking at the boundlessness of the distant horizon and thinking of the multitude of people, with whom I am connected." In 2021, we explored the meaning of "Prestory", the ordinary and the extraordinary, the infinity of time, and unearthed the layered memories and endless possible futures in the "present". In 2022, we responded to Tao Xingzhi's call for a "Vital Force" with our own for a positive life.
Over the three years of the pandemic, we have had over 8,000 young artists showcase over 10,000 works in the city. Rooted in reality, these creations are an exploration of humanity and a reflection upon society. Last June, we remained in the shadow of the pandemic. Nevertheless, the Youth Art Festival had over 300,000 visitors offline and 625 million viewers online. TheTimes, a British newspaper, published a one-page article titledArt for Life's Sake, in which it praised Hangzhou's inclusivity and openness, the aspirations CAA has for society and the creative energy it brought to its city.
In 2023, we have decided to build a "Brain Garden" for everyone. The Graduation Season is not only a show of our fruits of labor but the flowers of tomorrow. It is a sign of artistic growth in our world.
Recently, I have become increasingly convinced that the core purpose of art is that of discovery−of the world and of humankind. The artist's mission is to create and cultivate, unearth new human experiences, and create a world filled with infinite possibilities. That means that as artists, we have to decipher the code behind creation and the logic behind emotion, and unlock the Brain Garden in everyone.
My dear friends, the organ that sits in our head and weighs less than 1.4 kg is the most complex system in the world. There are at least 100,000 neurons and 500 million synapses in one cubic millimeter of our cerebral cortex which controls at least 150,000 sensory-motor processes. The huge leap in artificial intelligence in the last decade−the so-called AI revolution−was primarily the result of the modest progress that scientists made in advancing our understanding of our brain's neural network. We have to be keenly aware that in this age of AI, humankind's understanding of the brain, consciousness, and intelligence is but the tip of the iceberg.
My dear friends, we are living in a period of rapid, accelerating growth in human history and a transformative technological revolution. Metaverse was born last year. This year, we witnessed the advent of GPT and AIGC. The fast pace at which applied AI technology and tools are self-improving has affected education, culture and artistic creation drastically. When it comes to new technologies, I remain cautiously optimistic. In the past few years, I have been advocating the concurrent evolution of humankind and AI. Just to clarify, I'm talking about two types of AI here−artificial intelligence and artistic intelligence. As artificial intelligence advances, we become increasingly in need of artistic intelligence.
Artificial intelligence is not simply a tool in research and production, it is a tool that aids perception and thinking. It is a medium through which we gain self-awareness and a mirror that reflects our collective social self-awareness. I'm not worried that artificial intelligence will replace human creativity because anything that can be replaced is not a product of true creativity. Human art is guided by purpose and driven by desire. It is a spiritual undertaking. Just as how photography did not replace painting in the 19thcentury, computers and artificial intelligence cannot replace artists and designers.
The purpose of art is to create a life of creativity. The purpose of art education is the preservation and development of human beings. In the smart, digital age, as the act of production becomes more automated and standardized, as empathy grows increasingly dulled and artistic sensibilities increasingly uninspired,we must champion human creativity. As artificial intelligence becomes moreadvanced at a rapidly accelerating pace, we need to launch a counterattack−one that is driven by the human brain. It will be a battle that will determine the fate of humanity. Art shall be its battleground and schools the frontline.
That is why our young artists and designers must embrace new technologies and the age of artificial intelligence. That is the only way to ensure that AI remains a medium and tool instead of our enemy. In the past few years, many teachers and students at CAA have tried to incorporate different kinds of AI tools in their instruction, research, learning, and creation.Oddinary, the first film that was screened just now, is a joint creation of a student from the School of Design and Innovation and AI. This technology was used throughout the process of scriptwriting, character design, and animation.
My dear friends, we are living in an age in which the human brain and mechanical brain simulate each other and human intelligence and artificial intelligence compete with each other. In such as age, art is a Brain Garden that connects countless entities. In this garden, the soil is rich, and its flowers in full bloom. In this garden, there is infinite computing power and boundless creativity. When faced with endless possibilities, we must embrace everything to create something unique. If we can transform AI's limitless generative capabilities into productive creations, we can launch an age of constant creation that is powered by continuously, recursively changing AIGC. Our Brain Garden will flourish and the creative forces of art shall thrive.
Let the flowers of youth bloom in 2023, in the post-pandemic era.
Let artistic creativity flow in 2023, amidst the turbulence of an infinite generation of AIGC.
To All Youths, Go Forth and Create!
