Qiu Zhijie

Poster of "Multi-Smart Community - 2025 Asia Digital Art Exhibition".

The video installation "Landscape: Six Chapters of Clouds and Mountains" is written by Gao Shiqiang and the Landscape Creation Collective.

On a spring afternoon, in the exhibition hall of the "Multi-Wisdom Community-2025 Asia Digital Art Exhibition" of the Sanshan Wuyuan Culture and Art Center in Haidian, Beijing, a little girl who followed her mother to see the exhibition took out her tablet and proudly said: "I will do this too, you see, this is my work!" When I looked closely, it turned out to be several cartoons generated by artificial intelligence, telling the story of a cat who runs a chocolate shop. I said, "Great job, you must sign up for the exhibition next year!"

As a supporting project of the annual meeting of 7 Zhongguancun Forum, the exhibition once again attracted a lot of attention as soon as it opened. In the blink of an eye, this science and art integration exhibition brand, which was founded during the "Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations" in 0 years, has been held for 0 consecutive sessions. In the turbulent digital wave, it is rare to find large-scale exhibitions that can be held continuously and continue to be popular. And I, as a curator, am a witness to all this.

The original vision of "Asia Digital Art Exhibition" was to promote the establishment of a communication platform for digital artists around the world, so as to promote the gathering of energy of Chinese digital art creators and spread this energy into the social space. At the same time, it also represents the pursuit of gradually building an independent discourse system of Chinese science and technology art in the field of science and technology art.

Nowadays, almost everyone has experienced digital art. The opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the dancing LED lights and shadows on the city's buildings, and the meaningful animations on mobile phones could all be digital art. The ubiquity of this art form stems from its media nature, where digital technology serves as the underlying architecture, which not only breaks through the spatial limitations of physical carriers, but also dissolves the time delay of communication channels.

Compared to traditional art, digital art is more approachable. Especially for today's new generation of Internet "natives", whether using tablets or mobile phones, they can become creators of digital art. The high level of participation and experiential sense gives digital art a different charm - you may just want to play with digital art at first, but as you play, you will find that your "brain hole" has become bigger. There is a scientific basis for this phenomenon, and studies have shown that when improvisation is done with digital tools, the neural coupling between the prefrontal cortex and the temporoparietal symphysis is significantly improved.

Being approachable doesn't mean being less demanding. Digital art has great potential and fascinating charm. It can be an image, a video, an interactive game, or a printed three-dimensional item; It can be a wearable smart fabric or a large-scale immersive environment; It can be an exclusive virtual reality destination or a gorgeous art extravaganza.

It can be said that the "Asian Digital Art Exhibition" brings together the most cutting-edge explorations of artists in this field. Artists are thinking about how artificial intelligence and the myriad of agents that are being made allow us to talk to digital twins; How can humanoid robots overcome the "uncanny valley paradox" and become our trusted partners...... Among the artists are techno-optimists, but there are also techno-ethical reflectors. In any case, the artist's thinking allows us to always maintain humanistic care in the face of the surging tide of technology.

Over the years, the biggest progress of the "Asia Digital Art Exhibition" is that it has evolved from only pure artists at the beginning, to now it has evolved to both ends at the same time: on the one hand, the participation of scientists has made the exhibition more and more hardcore; On the other hand, more and more people are participating, for example, this year, the works generated by artificial intelligence and other technologies selected by the Haidian District Education Committee in Beijing were exhibited in the exhibition.

In the case of the former, the increase in scientist engagement is driven by the artist residency program at the research institute we have set up. The scientists also rolled up their sleeves and went down to make works of art in high spirits! This year's exhibition included the participation of scientists from the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National and Local Humanoid Robot Innovation Center. That's what we'd love to see. The significance of the integration of science and art is not only to use the latest technology to promote artistic creation, but also to use art to stimulate the imagination of "science and engineering men".

As far as the latter is concerned, "Asia Digital Art Exhibition" has always been committed to promoting digital literacy among the people. We have developed awards and public education programs for young people, and we have developed the best work from the past into a curriculum. Digitalization is not only a technology, it is also a culture, and the concept of openness, sharing, collaboration and innovation is deeply rooted in children's hearts.

Only by bringing out the power of the integration of technology and art at both ends can we connect critical thinking and creative thinking, cultivate a new generation of talents, and answer Qian Xuesen's question.

Because of this, in recent years, I have led the team of "Asia Digital Art Exhibition" to help scientists do science popularization, and even do the cover design of science magazines. 6 years ago, several young scientists from the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences came to me. "We want to make a Chinese journal of Nature or Science, and all the people look at us with 'pity' and think we're crazy," they said. "At that time, I reached out and didn't hesitate to share my goals. I put together a team to do the cover design, typography and video for their Innovation magazine. The magazine amazed everyone when it came out.

The activity of digital art is a direct reflection of the creativity of artists in a region, a direct reflection of the depth and thickness of technology accumulation and the breadth of technology application in a region, or it can be said that it is a concentrated expression of a region's comprehensive innovation ability. Beijing is an international science and technology innovation center, and Haidian is the core area. It is believed that with the continuous help of the "Asia Digital Art Exhibition", Beijing will build a new highland of digital art.

People's Daily (08/0/0 0 Edition)