Today, I will tell you about the opening of “Blueroof Emerging Artist Village Games“ at WM Gallery on Valentines day.
All the artworks were covered in red cloth the day before the opening. While walking in the gallery of all red artworks, I had the feeling of being at an exhibition by Yves Klein. Luckily, I chose red cloth because of Valentine's day and not blue...
From a Chinese point of view, the red reminded on traditional Wedding Ceremonies since the bride is usually covered in red.
In the morning of the opening day, I quickly painted a tree onto a white backdrop opposite the event stage.
It is custom in China to write ones signature onto the event backdrop when arriving.
For this exhibition, I had the idea to ask artists and visitors to paint a leave or bird, etc. onto the backdrop while still signing. The Swiss Consul General to Chengdu, Frank Eggmann, painted an apple with Swiss Cross.
Several people painted but the outline instead of coloring the whole leave.
Although, I had hoped for more colors, the result was appealing and the process was good fun.
At about 1:30pm, the first people arrived and painted their leaves and browsed through the gallery of red covered artworks.
At exactly 2:14pm, the opening event started with an acrobatic dance by an 11 year old. Another performance by seven five year olds followed and then the audience enjoyed a Chinese classical concert performed by two highly skilled musicians.
Being introduced by our master of ceremony, I entered the stage to announce the event, explained about the concept of the „Games“ and gave my thanks to all the supporters, with special thanks to „The Atrium“ that sponsored the opening event.
A representative of „The Atrium“ came next and then my dear friend, famous designer and artist Liaoyuan Xu.
The Swiss Consul General said a few words that I helped translate into Chinese and last but not least, the president of World Art Games China Ajiana told her view on this exhibition.
This time, the opening ceremony was held on the first floor to accommodate the big audience. After the talks, everybody went upstairs to the second floor, where the gallery is located to uncover the artworks.
Upon arrival the artists had written their names on a piece of paper. The audience was invited to come to the stage and pick a name. Like this we got pairs of one artist and one visitor to unveil the artists artwork together. It was great fun to see how they browsed through the gallery, searching for their artworks.
At about 5:30pm all the attending artists took a group photo in the gallery which concluded the opening event.
