China News Service, Beijing, October 1 (Reporter Gao Kai) The National Art Fund's 2026 communication and promotion funding project "Clearing the Past and Integrating the New—Chinese Contemporary Glass Art Exhibition" recently opened at the Today Art Museum in Beijing.
Qin Chuan, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University, Wang Jianzhong, Professor of the Academy of Arts and Crafts of Tsinghua University and Vice Chairman of the China Arts and Crafts Society, Shao Yu, Dean of the School of Innovation and Creative Design of Shenzhen Vocational and Technical University, Li Yupu, Secretary of the Party Committee and Dean of the School of Handicrafts of the China Academy of Art, and Yan Yan, Executive Director of Today Art Museum, attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches.
This exhibition presents a total of 110 pieces (sets) of works, divided into three units: "Translation of Tradition", "Own Vocabulary" and "Expansion of Expression". It is considered to comprehensively demonstrate the rich features and development vitality of current Chinese glass art creation.
On the afternoon of the same day, an academic exchange event was held at the Academy of Fine Arts, Tsinghua University. The event was titled "Changes in Melting Content: The Transformation and Generation of Glass Art." Six experts from different fields were invited to discuss the changes in craftsmanship, form, language, and concepts of glass art, and explore the internal dynamics of the continuous generation of Chinese contemporary glass art and the multiple possibilities for its future development.
Qiu Jianrong, Qiushi Distinguished Professor of Zhejiang University, shared "The Integration of Glass Science and Art" from the perspective of material science. He pointed out that glass is not only the carrier of art, but also a unique medium for the intersection of science and humanities. The process of melting and forming itself is the interpretation of "the change of melting volume".
Wang Min'an, a professor at the School of Humanities at Tsinghua University, gave a speech titled "The Mirror of Painting, Showcase Windows and Glass Curtain Walls". He pointed out that glass as a transparent medium has always reconstructed people's way of viewing - from Renaissance paintings to modern show windows and glass curtain walls. The glass curtain wall is both transparent and reflective, blurring the boundaries between inside and outside, reality and illusion, and becomes a unique visual device. In artistic creation, glass is no longer just an object to be viewed, but has become the condition and medium for viewing itself.
Fang Xiaofeng, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Tsinghua University and editor-in-chief of "Decoration" magazine, pointed out in his speech "From Art to Industry" that glass art cannot stay at the academic and exhibition level, but needs to be integrated with industry to achieve sustainable development. Moving from art to industry is not about lowering standards, but about establishing a benign ecosystem—artists create works, industry provides technology and market channels, and the public participates in dissemination through consumption.
Chen Xuan, a researcher at Peking University School of Art, shared the theme of "Visual Experiments in the Qing Palace Induced by Glass Mirrors in the 18th Century". As a novel item introduced from the West, glass mirrors were widely used from the emperor's daily life to palace decoration, and to some extent changed the Chinese people's self-perception and space perception. She pointed out that glass as a medium is never neutral and always shapes people's visual experience and cultural cognition.
Curator and art critic Duan Shaofeng, in "Everyday Miracles - Art from Use to Creation", uses Wen Zhenheng's "Long Things" and Redhou's "All Things" as the origin of his thoughts to discuss the multiple media properties of glass in contemporary art. Discussions will be conducted from multiple levels such as aesthetic meaning, media conversion, space conversion, life experience, contemporary spirit and poetic imagery, with special attention to the transparency, imitation of glass and its re-transformation in contemporary art.
Zheng Wenqing, associate professor of the School of Handicrafts at the China Academy of Art, took the title "Cross-media Generation Path of Glass Art Based on Exploration of Plastic Language" to explore the path for glass art to break through the limitations of a single medium and achieve cross-media integration. The transparency, plasticity and optical properties of glass give it the natural ability to dialogue with other media. She emphasized that cross-media must be transformed in integration and generated in transformation. This is the deep meaning of "melting change".
The second half of the forum was the youth forum session. The young creators present expressed their thoughts on artistic creation based on their personal practices, demonstrating the new generation vitality of Chinese contemporary glass art.
It is reported that "Clearing the Old and Integrating the New—Chinese Contemporary Glass Art Exhibition" will be on display at Today Art Museum until November 1.
