Language and Boundaries

Author: Chen Xiaowen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-01-01
Features: Reading Chen Xiaowen's works is like chatting with a few friends. He conveys his affectionate emotions in a relaxed narrative style, laying out the teaching philosophy, cases, and other events of the Art College of East China Normal University before us. The chapters unfold in the natural order of the four seasons—summer, autumn, winter, and spring—seemingly allowing readers to truly experience the daily changes in temperature as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The Art College of East China Normal University focuses on sculpture. Here, we can observe the clear distinctions in conceptual definitions between sculpture, installation art, new media, and conceptual art, but we also fail to obtain a method for accurately delineating their boundaries or a standard for judging the quality of works. However, within the course cases, dialogues between teachers and students, and descriptions of scenarios, a clear thread emerges: that art is a self-completing process, an interdisciplinary intersection, a reintegration, an ongoing selection, and a courageous act of creation.
Once, a German professor introduced me to a teaching case titled "Life—Death" from a painting course at a German university. Students from various disciplines—such as fine arts, philosophy, medicine, and history—participated in the discussion for this topic. Each student was required to complete an assignment. Although I did not see the final outcome of the entire case, based on some meaningful details during the process, I can fully imagine the profound significance of such teaching. I believe new ideas are born at the intersection of disciplines and their margins.