By: Ellison Blake
“Listen to Hongxian Nv – Art Exhibition” was launched in Macau, China, in April of this year. After its opening in Guangzhou’s YongQingFang in 2022, it garnered much love and recognition from the audience. This time, the exhibition has been adjusted and upgraded, bringing it to the historic streets of Macau, a beloved area for young people. Through modern art forms combined with technology, visitors can experience the legendary artistic journey of the master artist Hongxian Nv, deepening the communication and understanding of traditional Chinese drama among the younger generation.
As the main person in charge of the creative team for this exhibition, Rain(Yuhou).Lin, a cross-disciplinary curator, has been active in the field of cross-cultural creation. Contrasting with the artistic expression styles of young artists, Rain.Lin excels in the application of light and shadow visual technology. He has been involved in the production of cases such as the Maritime Theatre, Digital Mobile Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo Space, Parking Lot Museum, and Aerial Cantonese Opera Cinema, promoting the implementation of cross-border conceptualization of traditional culture.
Photo Courtesy: Bridge Canton
Ellison Blake: The theme of this exhibition leans towards modernization. What was the inspiration behind it?
Rain(Yuhou).Lin: The main color scheme chosen for the exhibition’s visual design is magenta, one of the most popular colors globally in recent years. We applied a modern and minimalist font style combined with the traditional musical notation elements of the Gongche music scale. We extracted concrete sound wave graphics from the theme music works to form a modern design theme that retains traditional information while being sensorially rich. It’s worth mentioning that the design of the exhibition won an outstanding award in the Chinese Cultural and Museum Poster selection competition after its first exhibition.
Ellison Blake: The exhibition applies quite modern and technological presentation methods. Could you elaborate?
Rain(yuhou).Lin: This exhibition mainly employs the artistic expression technique of parallel contrast. It explores the same themes from different eras on the timeline and depicts the different spaces of the same character’s stage performance and real-life portrayal. Immersive three-dimensional light and shadow equipment recreate the sights and feelings experienced by the two roles of Wang Zhaojun on their theatrical journeys, allowing the audience to engage in deeper exchanges with the exhibition and thus develop a multidimensional understanding of traditional drama.
Photo Courtesy: Bridge Canton
Ellison Blake: I think your establishment of Cross-Cantonese Culture as a cultural platform for inheriting intangible cultural heritage is very meaningful. You are adept at innovating traditional cultural content and dissemination methods with an international perspective, building a bridge for communication and cooperation between traditional Chinese culture and contemporary culture. What are your plans for the future?
Rain(Yuhou).Lin: In recent years, I have been using modern forms of expression and fashionable language to spread traditional Eastern culture and create more innovative and creative exhibitions. Just like last year’s Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Digital Exhibition at Milan Design Week, this year’s planned touring exhibitions will be held in places like Paris, France. I want to continue exploring and learning more and hope to bring traditional Chinese culture to more countries and regions around the world.
Published by: Nelly Chavez
