We are launching a MOOC and a digital archive on Chinese socially engaged art:
1) MOOC “Discovering Socially Engaged Art in Contemporary China”
Link: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/socially-engaged-art
Time: February 6 (Monday) to March 19 (Sunday)
Language: English
This 6-week free online course serves as an introduction to Chinese socially engaged art. Over the past eight months, we traveled to multiple cities (Wuhan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Beijing …) and worked with a number of artists/ collectives (Xiong Wenyun, Xu Bing, Wang Jiuliang …). This course covers 16 socially engaged art projects and a number of theoretical issues. It also contains excerpts of 12 artist interviews, and six 360-degree videos of the actual sites where the projects took place. The artworks address a wide range of social issues, ranging from ecology to equality. Videos in this MOOC can be downloaded.
2) Digital archive of Chinese socially engaged art
Link: seachina.net
We decided to initiate this archive in 2014 because many important socially engaged artworks in China were not properly documented, making it difficult to teach them. Over the past three years, supported by three grants, we have documented 16 projects, with high-resolution images and many video clips (some are quite precious, thanks to the generosity of the artists). Information is provided in both English and Chinese. We will continue to expand this archive.
These two resources may be useful to courses on Chinese art and contemporary China in general. Please email us (bozheng@cityu.edu.hk) if any support is needed. We’ll also be delighted to receive comments and suggestions.
Bo Zheng
Assistant Professor
School of Creative Media
City University of Hong Kong