Symbiotic Cosmos: Cultural Ecological Reconstruction Amidst Technological Iteration China (Hangzhou) Art and Technology Biennale Kicks Off

HANGZHOU, China, Oct. 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The China (Hangzhou) Art and Technology Biennale opened at Yuhang Art Museum on the afternoon of October 18. It is jointly organized by the Communication Department of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, China Artists Association, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture, Broadcasting and Tourism, Zhejiang Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the China Academy of Art (CAA). As a key international event for cultural and art exchange held during the 3rd Liangzhu Forum, the biennale gathers works by over 160 artists, scientists, and other creators from more than 20 countries and regions. The event uses themed exhibitions and cultural dialogues to boost exchanges and mutual learning, displaying the reconstruction trajectory and future prospects of cultural ecology amid technological iteration. It also highlights Zhejiang's achievements in digital culture and art-tech integration after its 20-year endeavor in promoting the "Eight Major Initiatives" for cultural construction. It responds to the theme of the 3rd Liangzhu Forum — Revitalization of Civilization: Cultural Heritage and Human Culture Diversity.

Liangzhu is the cradle of Chinese civilization which goes back 5,000 years. The ethos of art-technology integration has long been etched into Hangzhou's historical fabric. Today, the city's thriving digital economy and cutting-edge AI industries are creating a dynamic platform for profound dialogue between humanity and technology. The CAA's nearly century-long journey embodies the practice of "art-technology" integration. Guided by its philosophy of Global-Local Synergy and Humanities-Technology Integration, CAA has built a dynamic engine for interdisciplinary innovation. Currently, it is developing a forward-looking "Unwalled Academy" in Liangzhu, leveraging art-technology integration to empower new quality productive forces. On this cradle of civilization, a profound dialogue between humanity and technology has begun — where ancient cultural origins and cutting-edge art-technology exploration resonate in harmony.

Revisiting the "Ridge" of Civilization

The biennale, themed "Cultural Ecological Reconstruction Amidst Technological Iteration", starts the dialogue between "Heaven, Earth, Human, and Machine" through four core sections: "Connections: Embodied Interaction," "Symbiosis: Digital Education," "Speculation: Ecological Reconstruction", and "Manifesto: Philosophical Inquiry". The first section allows visitors to experience the connections between humans, machines, and the world through interactions. The second section focuses on promoting the coexistence of humanities and technology through digital education. The third section encourages visitors to speculate on how technology and environment can interact. The final section prompts reflections on the values and ethical boundaries of art-technology integration.

In the exhibition hall, the Jade Cong King stands tall, connecting the heavens. This digital display of intangible cultural heritage, sourced from the Hangzhou branch of the China National Archives of Publications and Culture, uses digital technology to explore and reinterpret the precious physical artifacts, such as the Liangzhu jade cong. The exhibition also showcases Homage to History, Creating History, a collaboration between Alibaba Cloud and Xiong Chao, the visual effects director for the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Drawing inspiration from iconic sculptures in Parisian museums, Xiong Chao combines Alibaba Cloud's AI technology with CGI to create a digital image that mimics the style of a sketch copperplate engraving. The China Dinosaur Project | Number 20241123, co-created by Liu Yihong's team at the China Academy of Art and researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, builds on empirical studies of newly discovered sauropod fossils from Early Jurassic Yunnan. Through fieldwork, μCT scanning, stratigraphic analysis, numerical simulations, and algorithmic imaging, the team translates paleontological "hard data" into perceptible "visual spaces." By integrating dinosaurs into this framework, the project extends the boundaries of human civilization, offering a fresh perspective on our place in the world.

Converging Humanities and Technology at the Pinnacle

The "Trisolaris Computing Constellation" project represents a collaborative effort between Zhijiang Laboratory and global partners to build space-based computing infrastructure. This initiative aims to create a platform for global scientific innovation that enables the application of artificial intelligence in space exploration. Spacetime Elasticity, an audiovisual work inspired by gravitational lensing, was created by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. It transforms the peculiar images formed when light bends in a gravitational field into an interactive experience, presenting complex cosmic simulations in a form that can be sensed and engaged with. The Deep-Sea Intelligent Unmanned Submersible, a virtual simulation and interactive installation created by the School of Innovation & Design of the China Academy of Art and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, represents an advanced, multifunctional piece of deep-sea exploration technology. This cutting-edge equipment promises to provide crucial support for scientific research in the depths of the oceans. The exhibition also features pioneering works of technology and media by artists from around the globe. Zach Lieberman, a new media artist from MIT's Media Lab, presents Daily Sketches, where real-time audience gestures, sounds, and facial expressions are captured to generate abstract dynamic graphics. This work turns programming into a tangible, interactive medium by making everyday coding practices accessible to the public, allowing the public to engage with and experience the creative process, highlighting the visual poetry of technology. In Orbit, Finnish artist duo Grönlund-Nisunen's work, a 35 cm stainless steel ball moves perpetually along a circular stainless steel track, powered not by external forces, but by gravity and friction. Through mechanical mechanisms, the ball accelerates and decelerates, and this creates a continuous motion that casts shifting shadows, prompting viewers to rethink their perceptions of everyday objects.

Through these artistic endeavors, artists are bridging China to the world by exploring the roots of the Four Great Ancient Civilizations and global cultural landscapes. At this moment, these artistic actions converge once again in Liangzhu, creating a closed loop that transcends time and space. Here, we witness the convergence of art and technology, which ignites the next great ascent in an eternal cycle.

The exhibition is hosted at the newly opened Yuhang Art Museum. The museum's double-ring circular structure evokes a visual imagery of "floating" between heaven and earth. Its flowing form echoes the infinite exploration and temporal and spacial continuity symbolized by the "Mobius strip" — a metaphor that resonates with French writer Gustave Flaubert's famous observation: "Art and science will meet again at the summit after they are separated at the foot of the mountain." This event brings together international artists who have been attracted by Liangzhu civilization and the Silk Road Artists' Rendezvous and inspired to create on-site fieldwork, and Chinese artists who, starting from Liangzhu civilization, have initiated a dialogue with ancient civilizations worldwide through art projects like "Art: 30°N Latitude", as well as the "Inter-World-View", which explores the origins of global civilizations. Within the exhibition space, over 110 artworks collectively form a "Mountain of Civilization", where "explorers" climb along diverse altitudes and paths, ultimately engaging in dialogue at the summit where humanities and technology converge.

As Yu Xuhong, President of the China Academy of Art, noted in the exhibition preface: "In this exhibition, the symbiotic interplay between art and technology, and the cyclical interweaving of past and future, together create a boundless dialogue space where ideas flow freely and inspiration endures. By bringing together global artists, scientists, experts, and scholars, this biennale aims to build an interactive network integrating artistic creation, technological innovation, and industrial practice— to truly perceive the power of creation through 'Dialogues Between Liangzhu and the World' and 'Dialogues Between Art and Technology'."

During the exhibition, the following supporting events will be held in parallel. The China (Hangzhou) Art and Technology Symposium will focus on exploring international, diverse, and open pathways for art-tech integration. The Manifesto of the 1st China (Hangzhou) Art and Technology Biennale will be officially released, translating the Global Civilization Initiative from a vision into practical actions and contributing Chinese wisdom to the symbiotic evolution of art and technology in a globalized context. The Catalog of the 1st China (Hangzhou) Art and Technology Biennale 2025 will be published, comprehensively presenting the diverse forms and innovation achievements sparked by the interaction between art and technology, while systematically documenting global artists' creative reflections and practical solutions in the digital and information context.

On October 19, the China (Hangzhou) Art and Technology Symposium took place at the Liangzhu Campus of the China Academy of Art. With the theme "Cultural Ecological Reconstruction Amidst Technological Iteration," this year's symposium aimed to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue for exploring new dimensions of humanistic thought while envisioning a future of diverse coexistence. Based on cross-cultural, cross-sector and cross-disciplinary perspectives, the event brought together artists, scientists, designers, scholars, educators, and business leaders from universities and organizations around the world. Together, they shared academic insights, innovative experiences, and launched initiatives to shape the future.

The exhibition will run until December 18.

SOURCE China Academy of Art