Speech at Opening Ceremony of 1st International Sculpture Symposium, Kunming - China, 2005 1 May 2005 - speech delivered by Laury Dizengremel in Daguan Park during the Opening Ceremony. Nihao - Duibuqi, wode cing she jongwa cing, danshe, wode hanyu shuode bugo hao, intse wo shuo inyu. Hello! On behalf of all the Chinese sculptors, and all the foreign guest sculptors, I would like to thank the Officials of Yunnan Province, the officials of Kunming, the officials of the Yunnan Arts Institute and Executives and Staff of the Organizing Committee of the 1st International Sculpture Festival of Kunming for inviting us here to the city of Eternal Spring. All of us sculptors, sculptors from Kunming, from all over China, from Canada, the USA, Belarus, India, Bangladesh, Korea, Australia, Mexico, Thailand and France - each and everyone of us, we are honoured to be here, honoured to have been selected, honoured to be in a position to contribute a sculpture to the city of Kunming. We thank you for your trust and for your warm hospitality. Any sculpture symposium requires a lot of planning, technical logistics and finance / fund-raising….. and while some of this is exciting, we know it also represents a great deal of work for all of the hosts and organizers. We sculptors wish to thank you for all the hard work you have done in the past few months to make this event happen. This is a wonderful opportunity for sculptors from all over the world, domestic and international, East and West, North and South, to exchange with Kunming as a host city, and also to exchange with each other - exchange not only culture and goodwill, but also share technical information specifically related to the artform of sculpture. Artists are communicators. The language of art is universal. Art transcends any language or cultural barriers. It acts as a bridge between us sculptors, all from different cultural backgrounds. It also acts as a bridge between the sculptors and anyone else they meet. The theme for this Sculpture Festival is ART - ENVIRONMENT - HARMONY. I think our role here as sculptors is to create works of art that are both aesthetic and meaningful, to create a positive impact upon the viewers and the environment, and to contribute to the harmony and balance between different Chinese provinces and cities as well as the harmony and balance between China and foreign countries. Philosopher L. Ron Hubbard says "A culture is only as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamed by artists". The cultural legacy of a city is always enhanced by adding more visual art in its urban environment. Other major cities in China have hosted major international sculpture symposia, such as Changchun, and Beijing. Now Kunming has taken this important initiative and all eyes in China will be turned to Kunming, which will attract further visitors and tourists from home and abroad. For the next month we will work hard together to turn dreams into real, large, visible artworks that will hopefully enhance Kunming's visibility and prestige within the international art community. Again - thank you! P.S. I was asked to make this speech at the Opening Ceremony in front of a large crowd, officials of the city, of the Yunnan Arts Institute and various academics from the world of sculpture in China. |