Skip to main content
European Commission logo
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS
CORDIS Web 30th anniversary CORDIS Web 30th anniversary

New Forms of Calligraphy in China: A Contemporary Culture Mirror

Project description

Using calligraphy to reveal how writing shaped China

Writing, and calligraphy in particular, is a major part of Chinese culture and history. In modern times, calligraphy has evolved dramatically, giving birth to unique art forms that play a key role in creative expression. The EU-funded WRITE project seeks to investigate how these new forms of calligraphy emerged, developed and shaped contemporary Chinese art and culture. It will achieve this through a multidisciplinary approach that aims to reveal how calligraphy has shaped Chinese modern identity and how it reflects the important social and economic changes the country has gone through over the course of the last few decades.

Objective

Calligraphy is a central tenet of Chinese civilization. The whole history of China is strictly linked to the history of its writing and calligraphy. In contemporary times Calligraphy has undergone a radical change and it has evolved into new forms in all fields of visual and performing arts. WRITE will explore how all these forms emerged in: (F1) “fine and contemporary arts” where it became a naïf painting made of pictographic shapes of characters, an abstract combination of dots and lines, a “light-calli-photograph,” an artistic video based on digital strokes; (F2) decorative and applied arts, where the characters lost their connection with the linguistic meaning to become decorative elements used for commercial scopes or to design architectures; (F3) performing arts, where the rhythm, dynamism and harmonic movement of calligraphy became a choreographic gesture of a contemporary ballet or an improvised jazz song; (F4) graffiti art, where the presence of calligraphy along the streets evolved from Maoist propaganda posters into graffiti pieces made of wild-style characters or cursive tags. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, WRITE will analyze how these new forms have been transforming not only the creative practice of contemporary artists but also the language about calligraphy and art (F5/F6), reflecting new socio-political (F7) and economic (F8) orders. WRITE will examine the innovative ways in which these new forms of calligraphy have responded to, subverted or reinterpreted traditional idioms to define a modern artistic identity that exists comfortably within the global art world while remaining indelibly Chinese. By looking at contemporary calligraphy, WRITE will reveal how these new forms powerfully resonate with China’s rich and enduring cultural tradition and at the same time mirror the sweeping social and economic changes that have taken place in China during the last four decades.

Host institution

ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA
Net EU contribution
€ 1 113 750,00
Address
VIA ZAMBONI 33
40126 Bologna
Italy

See on map

Region
Nord-Est Emilia-Romagna Bologna
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 1 113 750,00

Beneficiaries (1)