"Giuseppe Castiglione – Lang Shining New Media Art Exhibition” organised by City University of Hong Kong and National Palace Museum in Taipei

Date:                      25 April 2016 (Monday)

Time:                      3:30 pm

Venue:                   18/F Academic 3, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon

 

Date:                       25 April 2016 (Monday)

Time:                       4:30 pm

Venue:                     Wong Cheung Lo Hui Yuet Hall, 5/F Academic 3, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon

Guests:                    Dr Norman Leung Nai-pang, Pro-Chancellor of CityU

                               Mr Herman Hu Shao-ming, Council Chairman of CityU

                               Professor Way Kuo, President of CityU

                               Fung Ming-chu, Director of National Palace Museum

 

 

 

Date:               26 April 2016 to 31 July 2016

Time:               10am to 7pm daily. Closed on Mondays.

Venue:             18/F Academic 3, City University of Hong Kong,
Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon

Admission:       Free of charge
Enquiry:           Communications and Public Relations Office, CityU
                       (Email: cpro@cityu.edu.hk; phone: 3442 7654）

 

 

This exciting new exhibition about Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), an Italian Jesuit missionary who was a highly influential painter at the imperial court in China for over 50 years, will combine historical works of art, new media and interactive art to create a compelling, multi-sensory, visitor experience.

 

The event is co-organised by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and the National Palace Museum (NPM) in Taipei, and follows on from last year’s critically acclaimed “Rebuilding the Tong-an Ships New Media Art Exhibition”.

 

Castiglione, also known by his Chinese name Lang Shining, was a native of Milan in Italy. He joined the Society of Jesus in Genoa at the age of 19 and arrived in Beijing eight years later. He worked at the court of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Emperors for nearly 51 years.

 

In October 2015, to mark its 90th anniversary and the tricentennial of Castiglione’s arrival in China, NPM showcased the “Giuseppe Castiglione – Lang Shining New Media Art Exhibition”. Later, the museum teamed up with the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Florence, Italy to present numerous paintings by Castiglione in duplicate copies and new-media productions. CityU had the honour of taking part on both occasions.

 

These exquisite artworks travel overseas once again, this time to Hong Kong for a show to be held on 18/F, Academic 3 at CityU from 26 April to 31 July. This is the first exhibition to be held at this venue.

 

The exhibition’s innovative design combines historical artworks, new media and contemporary interactive art to present the masterpieces of Castiglione. There are 28 duplicate copies of selected works by the artist, plus 13 new media pieces, nine of which have been specially produced by CityU’s School of Creative Media (SCM). These nine pieces are “Interactive Folding Fan”, “Discover the Painting in Castiglione’s Drawing”, “Reflections of the Peacock ”, “Interactive ‘One Hundred Horses’ Scroll”, “Another Kind of Chess Game”, “Copperplate Engravings with Sound Effects”, “Everyone can paint ‘One Hundred Horses’ ”, “Spectral Flowers”, and “Explore Castiglione’s Painted Flora and Fauna”.

 

Viewers can interact with the new media artworks. For example, viewers of “Interactive Folding Fan” can turn a knob mounted on a plinth to fold and unfold the interactive folding fan, and use a digital paintbrush to colour the horses on One Hundred Horses. Visitors may download some artworks to their mobile devices.  

 

“Animation: Adventures of the Mythical Creatures at the National Palace Museum”, “Documenting Victory in Etching: A Documentary about Giuseppe Castiglione’s Art and Emperor’s Victorious Engravings” and “Giuseppe Castiglione in China: Imperial Painter, Humble Servant” will also be shown at the exhibition.

 

In addition, we are honoured to have on display a number of porcelains, prints, paintings and publications from the 17th through to the 20th centuries from collections at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and The University of Hong Kong.