Officially ratified by the State Council, the Beijing International Art Biennale, China (Beijing Biennale for short) was regularly held and co-sponsored by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Government of Beijing Municipality and the China Artists Association. Based on the track record of the 6^th Beijing Biennale, the 7^th Beijing Biennale will be held in 2017, which coincides with the 15^th anniversary of the Beijing Biennale. The organizing committee decided to choose “The Silk Road and World’s Civilizations” as the theme of the 7^th Beijing Biennale, modified the regulations of the exhibition and planned to hold the 7^th Beijing Biennale between late September and mid of October in 2017 at the National Art Museum of China after the first session the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale.

The year of 2016 is set for the preparation of the exhibition. The press conference on the publication of the theme of the 7^th Beijing Biennale with simultaneous interpreting was held at the auditorium of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles on March, 18. At the press conference, the promotion brochures in both Chinese and English were distributed and the publication video was broadcast. Leaders of the organizing committee, representatives of the Chinese and international curators of the 7^th Beijing Biennale updated the developments of preparations of the exhibition to the Chinese and foreign media and also accepted interviews.

Mr. Zuo Zhongyi, Vice President of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Chief Curator of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale and Mr. Liu Dawei, Chairman of the China Artists Association and Chief Curator of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale separately delivered a speech. Mr. Zeng Chenggang: Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association and former participated artist of the Beijing Biennale, Mr. Xu Li, Secretary General of the China Artists Association and Chief Curator of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale, Mr. Wang Yong, Convenor of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale and Research Scholar of the China Art Research Institute and Ms. Beate Reifenscheid, International Curator of the 7^th Beijing Biennale and Curator of the Germany Ludwig Museum answered the questions raised by journalists. Mr.Claude Lara, Ecuadorian Minister to China, Ms. Elisabeth Fotiadou, Greek Minister Counsellor to China, Mr. Ragnar Baldursson, Icelandic Minister Counsellor to China and counsellors from Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Senegal and officials for culture and journalism affairs from embassies of Algeria, Argentina, Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Indonesia, Lithuania, Moldova, Mongolia, Namibia, Pakistan, Philippines, Serbia, Slovenia, Uruguay, Vietnam and etc. also attended the press conference. Around 20 representatives of Chinese artists attended the press conference including Chen Mengxin, Xu Jun, Sun Yumin, He Jialin, Liu Xuanrang, Li Aiguo, Yan Ping, Shi Enzhao, Liu Yaming, Xiao Han, Talintuoya, Zeng Yingchun, Wang Yaping, Ren Chuanwen, Sun Xiuting, Chang Jiahuang, Yu Guangqing, Kou Yuepeng, Wang Guanjun, Wang Peng, Jiao Yang, Feng Congli, Deng Ke, Yu Ming, Zhong Jianqiu, Chen Haobo, Shi Zhongying. About 70 Chinese and foreign media attended the press conference and reported on the event, including Russian News & Information Agency “RIA Novosti”, Latin American News Agency, HKS, Macao Daily News, Takungpao, PR Newswire, Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, People’s Daily, CCTV, Guangming Daily, China Daily, China Culture Daily, China Art News, Beijing Daily, Beijing Times, CRI, SHPD, BMN, rmzxb.com, IFENG.com, Artron.net. Ms.Tao Qin, Vice Secretary General of the China Artists Association and Convenor of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale was the host of the press conference.

In the speech of Mr. Zuo Zhongyi, Vice President of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, he said: “The Silk Road for thousands of years witnessed the legend of the peoples of various countries standing hand in hand overcoming difficulties, leaving an important chapter in the history of cultural exchanges and mutual learning. In a certain sense, the Silk Road itself can be seen as a comprehensive work of "visual art" created collectively by peoples of various countries against a vast background of time and space. I believe that the millennium Silk Road full of artistic inspiration will provide a vast space for artists to showcase their talents and learn skills from each other. We also look forward to the emergence of more and more fantastic paintings and sculptures at the exhibition, each having its own merit, exploring cultural fusion from the perspective of visual arts, to show results of blending civilizations. Today, China is making unremitting efforts to achieve the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the nation. The Chinese dream is not just the dream of the Chinese people to pursue happiness, but also connects with the beautiful dream of all peoples. It advocates a common community of human destiny, an open and inclusive spirit of exchange and cooperation, and diversification of world civilization.”

        “China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative that various countries work together to promote the construction of the "Silk Road Economic Belt" and the 21st Century "Marine Silk Road" has given new meaning to the Silk Road. Let’s carry on peace and cooperation, openness and tolerance, mutual learning, mutual benefit and win-win spirit of the Silk Road, to promote the prosperity of the arts and the progress of human civilization: these are the common aspiration of peace-loving people and the artists, and also the aim of the 7^th Beijing Biennale. We will take the opportunity of carrying forward the ‘spirit of the Silk Road,’ connecting ancient and modern times, Chinese and foreign cultures, to stick to the multi-level and wide-ranging pattern of international cultural exchanges, fully absorb the outstanding achievements of human civilization, continue to strengthen the international cultural exchange brand of the Beijing Biennale and incessantly enhance its international appeal and influence. It should be noted that exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations are an important trend of contemporary cultural development in the world. With the Silk Road as a leading thread, we will explore the historical and cultural heritage of the Silk Road, to show the unique charm of the Silk Road, set up the new bridge of the world cultural exchanges and dialogues, ‘weave’ the territory of paintings and sculptures of contemporary world civilization, and strive to create a beautiful blueprint of ‘culturally inclusive community of interests, community of responsibility and community of common destiny based on political trust and economic integration’ as artists’ noble mission. We expect Chinese artists to tell Chinese stories well to the outside world, the story of the Silk Road with their colorful brush, disseminating Chinese aesthetic spirit, showcasing the tremendous progress in Chinese society today and a new look of the people. They will show adequate character and historical accountability of Chinese art workers with outstanding works in Chinese style. We also expect foreign artists to find inspiration from the Silk Road, demonstrating on this platform of the Beijing Biennale the artists’ perception and understanding of civilizations, sharing spiritual experience and artistic attainments of different ethnic groups, in an effort to further consolidate the cooperation and friendship of international art world and make new contributions to the prosperity and development of art in the world, the common progress of human civilization and the peace and development of the world.”

In the speech of Liu Dawei, Chairman of the China Artists Association, he said: “Beijing Biennale, through the accumulation of the previous six sessions, has become the most important platform for extensive dialogues between Chinese art and the world and our exhibition purposes, themes of the exhibitions, evaluation system and organization method have been widely accepted, respected and orientated by the artists around the world. The Beijing Biennale has been unique among world-class international biennales for its aim at further extension in contemporary painting and sculpture, with initial success in promoting the worldwide return and revival of easel painting.”

“The Silk Road is a bond linking the world’s civilizations, the main road between East and West cultures, witnessing the mutual learning of world’s civilizations and it has become a symbol of East-West cultural exchanges. Now many ancient Silk Road cities have been reduced to rubble, but the Silk Road spirit is timeless. The theme of 7^th Beijing Biennale ‘The Silk Road and World’s Civilizations’ is aimed to promote the Silk Road spirit, the mutual learning of world civilizations and the exchange and integration of contemporary East-West cultures, and human beings’ common dream of world peaceful development. Artists invited are not limited to countries along the Silk Road, but we have included artists around the world, because the spirit of the Silk Road has shared spiritual values of mankind, and it has attracted the attention of contemporary artists around the world. Our subject matter is not limited to depicting the ancient Silk Road sites, not just nostalgia emotions, but also the performance of the Silk Road spirit – showing to the world the spirit of mutual learning among different civilizations, in particular the spirit of contemporary East-West cultural integration.”

“Themes about the ‘Silk Road’ are complex and broad, and materials of world’s civilizations are illuminating as heavenly stars, so for the specific exploration, discovery, conversion and screening, we will fully respect the choices of individual artists in the context of compliance with the law of artistic creation. Artists are expected to work with the ‘Silk Road’  and ‘world’s civilization’ in the spiritual connotation, and inject ideas and cultural connotation of our new era in the ‘old’ ‘Silk Road’ motif, and pay tribute to human civilization from a unique perspective, with rich forms in characteristic languages. ”

In the Q&A section, CCTV, China Daily, Blue Ocean Network and PR Newswire got the opportunity to raise questions, covering subjects of “Significance of the Beijing Biennale”, “Interpretation and thinking of the 7^th Beijing Biennale towards the “Belt and Road” Initiative from the perspective of art”, “Reflections of the international curator on Beijing Biennale” and “Experiences of previous selected artists of Beijing Biennale”. These guests of honor on the rostrum answered these questions.

While answering the question from CCTV, Xu Li, Secretary General of the China Artists Association mentioned that: “There have been about 2000 artists from hundreds of countries participating in the Beijing Biennale in the past decade from the first session to the present session. About half of the 2000 artists attended the opening ceremony and the international symposium in Beijing. A large number of these artists came to China for the first time at the invitation of the Beijing Biennale. They presented their styles, appreciated the beauty of Beijing, got to know China and made friends with artists from all over the world through the platform of Beijing Biennale.

Gwendolyn Kerber, a previous participating American artist once said: “At present, Los Angles, Beijing and Berlin have become the important “art club” in the world. I am so happy that I can communicate with artists from different countries.” Johansson, an artist from Sweden said that: “This is the first time that I come to China and it is very exciting for me to attend the exhibition in Beijing and communicate with other artists. All the experience in Beijing will affect my artwork creation in the future.” Sofia Alexiou, an artist from Greece said: “I think that Beijing Biennale is an international art exhibition as artists from all over the globe can communicate with each other. The exhibition is different from other biennales as it is unique in its organizing and planning.”

In recent years, the international art community is not only satisfied with sensory stimulus or ontological nothingness, but attaches more importance to the return of easel art like paintings and sculptures. The original intention and later development of Beijing Biennale which focuses on contemporary paintings and sculptures coincides with this trend. This is an opportunity for the art community in China as it boasts of solid basic technique and sticks to improve the capacity of modeling. Beijing Biennale provides a platform for international art and culture exchange which not only exhibits diverse paintings and sculptures from all over the world, but also provides vivid and direct examples for artists in China with its diversified styles and publicize the artistic value in China. To better understand and grasp “the culture of others” under the intersection of diversified cultures and to help to solve the common problem of international artistic community such as “the death of paintings”, which can be taken as contributions of China to the world and value judgment for paintings and easel art under the context of all media era. It is expected that contemporary artwork creation will travel on the track of rational and smooth development instead of merely avant-garde art featured by variant and absurdity. Based on the accumulation of the previous 6 sessions of Beijing Biennale, its philosophy, themes, evaluation system and organization has won universal identification, respect and oriented attention of global artists. Beijing Biennale has become an important platform for extensive dialogue between the China Artists Association and the global art community. In the future, the China Artists Association will continue to improve the brand of Beijing Biennale to make more contributions for the co-existence and common prosperity and harmony of the global art community.

Wang Yong, Convener of the Curatorial Committee of the Beijing Biennale mentioned that when he answered the question of the Blue Ocean Network: “The theme of the 7^th Beijing Biennale is ‘The Silk Road and World’s Civilization’, which is decided after many rounds of discussion among the curatorial committee. Although it seems that the theme of this session is different from previous Beijing Biennales, it comes in succession in its philosophy. All those previous Beijing Biennales were committed to promote the exchange, fusion and development of China and world’s civilizations and reduce conflicts among different civilizations.”

“The theme of the 7^th Beijing Biennale comes in succession of the previous Beijing Biennales in its basic philosophy. For example, themes for the Beijing Biennale from the first session to the fourth one are ‘Originality: Contemporaneity and Locality’, ‘Humanistic Concern of Contemporary Art’, ‘Colors and the Olympics’ , which are inclusive as they combine internationality and locality. At this point, these themes are similar with the spirit of the Silk Road.”

“Civilizations of the world are diverse and we especially strengthen the performance of world’s civilizations under the contemporary context. ‘The Spirit of Olympic’ is linked with ‘The Spirit of the Silk Road’. The themes for the Beijing Biennale from the 3^rd session to the 6^th one are separately ‘Environmental Concern and Human Existence’, ‘Future and Reality’ and ‘Memory and Dream’, which are all closely and directly connected with the theme “The Silk Road and World’s Civilizations” as the culture background and spiritual garden of humankind all deserve our attention and the ancient Silk Road connects the historical memory, realistic thinking and future dreams of human beings. It is worth to mention that the year 2017 marks the 15^th anniversary of the Beijing Biennale and the theme of the 7^th Beijing Biennale can be taken as extension, integration and sublimation of the previous 6 sessions or retrospect, summary and prospect of the future. The theme of ‘The Silk Road and World’s Civilization’ provides a vast space and great source of inspiration for world’s artists’ art creation.”

“The theme of the 7^th Beijing Biennale echoes with the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative at the spiritual aspect given that the initiative is not limited to China but is universally accepted. It can be said that the ‘Road and Belt’ Initiative activates the Spirit of Silk Road and extends fresh modern significance to it. As a result, when we discussed the theme, we took into account of the initiative, but it is not a political interpretation of the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative, but purely artistic performance. The Silk Road Spirit is universally accepted and relates with the development of world’s civilizations and cultural exchange and communication. It is a spirit featured by mutual construction, harmonious communion and win-win cooperation.”

When answered the question from China Daily, Beate Reifenscheid, the international curator of the 7^thBeijing Biennale said: “It was a great experience to me and it left me great impression.”

“First of all, I was interested to promote some artists I know, mostly from western countries and each of them was interested in being part of the Beijing Biennale. So that means for everybody who is able to participate, it is a great attraction to be here to participate to show to the world, to be involved in the huge communication of so many artists.”

“I really appreciate very much the Silk Road idea because it is not only historical view, but also it is towards the future. Just imagine we are now living in a globalized world nowadays, which means that we are probably travelling around the world. So we are constantly on move. This is the positive side. But there are also many people on move who don’t want to move. For example, there are many refugees in Europe. And the whole world is on a constant movement. And the Silk Road is also a story about movement. It brings culture from China to emerge into other cultures, for example merging Arab culture into the Chinese culture. Being on move is probably a very good experience to all of us to open our spirit and to broaden our horizon. And this is I think the main point which should be focused on. Everybody participating, Chinese or Asian artists of artists from the western world, in a way they could melt together. So exchange is really the best way to appreciate and to learn art of other cultures. I really hope art should be more open, more frank and more peaceful in the world.”

When answered the question from PR Newswire, Zeng Chenggang, representative of previous selected artist whose artwork were selected for the Beijing Biennale for two sessions expressed his recognition of the theme and philosophy the exhibition. He said: “Contemporary paintings and sculptures are the focus of Beijing Biennale, that is, the performance of paintings and material and spatial structure of sculptures. Material and spirit are the two most important things for art expression. The exterior form of art is material while the interior philosophy of art is spiritual. Based on the past development of the international art community, it is now diversified and rich in form. We come from tradition to modernism, from modernism to postmodernism. Performance art, environmental art and conceptual art sprang up as new forms of art, but Beijing Biennale sticks to its original system. It continues to present themes that combines independence and general characters and possesses a unique perspective and understanding of the contemporary art. What is the most intrinsic part in our memories? What is the fundamental of art? We tend to be limited by something but we need to move forward and make innovations to create more styles. But no matter how art will develop in the future, we need to be rigorous. Innovations are based on traditions. Beijing Biennale insists on practicing the philosophy that we want to make contemporary art go further through development of traditional artistic language.

Representatives from foreign embassies in China got full information about the theme, time arrangement and how to submit contributions through the new conference of the 7^th Beijing Biennale and expressed that the news conference was held in a timely manner, the graphic information and promotion video were vivid and informative as it not only reviewed previous sessions of Beijing Biennale but also presented detailed requirements for the next sessions. They also expressed that they will help to publicize the regulations of the 7^th Beijing Biennale and registration forms in their own countries.

Ragnar Baldursson, Minister-Counsellor of the Iceland Embassy in China expressed that: “Now, I understand what the 7th Beijing Biennale will be like by participating in the news conference. It highlighted the culture of ‘harmony’ and the ‘Spirit of the Silk Road’. I will try my best to mobilize famous artists from Iceland to attend the exhibition.” When Adrian Lupeanu, Counsellor of Press and Cultural Affairs from the Embassy of Romania accepted the interview from RIA Novosti, he said: “Artists from Romania actively participated in every sessions of the Beijing Biennale and we always help to recommend artists to attend the exhibition, news conference and the opening ceremony. Today, I will transfer the information of the 7^th Beijing Biennale to Romania to attract more artists to pay attention the exhibition.”

Jinny Xin, cultural officer of the Austria Embassy in China expressed: “There were two Austrian artists attending the 6^th Beijing Biennale and we hope that we can recommend more artists from Austria to participate in the 7^th Beijing Biennale.” Amadou, First Counsellor of Senegal Embassy in China thought that the Beijing Biennale had became better and better and expressed that he would soon send the promotion brochures and related materials to Senegal. In addition to that, the Embassy of Netherlands and the Embassy of Maldives contacted the Beijing Biennale Office for further information and detailed terms of the regulations in a timely manner.

The two sessions, NPC and CPPCC came to an end and the “Thirteenth Five Year Plan” deliberated and approved during the two sessions mapped out a grand blueprint for the development of future 5 years. The plan pointed out that we need to improve the opening up policy, deepen the people to people communication and broaden the cultural exchange and cooperation, which manifested that China sticks to the peaceful development philosophy. Under this background, the launch of the 7^th Beijing International Art Biennale enjoyed favorable conditions and presented special significance. In the past, the Renaissance in Europe benefited from the cultural exchange between the west and east via the Silk Road. Today, World’s civilizations of the 21 century converge on the brand-new Silk Road, which is an active response to the appeal of the China Dream and the world Dream. It is also supposed to be the most expected part of the 7^th Beijing Biennale.