World Tree: 2024 China Academy of Art (CAA) Graduation Season

HANGZHOU, China, June 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 1, 2024, the "World Tree: CAA Graduation Season" was inaugurated at eight venues in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China. It presents the graduation works of a total of 2,868 graduates from 20 schools, as a youthful art festival across the city of Hangzhou and various domains.

In 2010, CAA became the first art academy to present its students' graduation works from all disciplines to the public, in the form of the brand-new "Graduation Exhibition Week". The feast also aims to recommend outstanding talents to society. The CAA Graduation Exhibition 2019, the world's largest one, reached beyond the walls of the Academy to the entire city, gathering greater strengths. On one hand, it showcased CAA as an "Unwalled Academy" that integrates internal and external resources; on the other hand, it shared the Academy's educational achievements with society, to promote the common growth of young artists in line with the times. It has become the most influential Graduation Season in China.

In 2024, the CAA Graduation Season takes "World Tree" as its theme. President Gao Shiming pointed out, "The 'World Tree' was once a channel connecting heaven, earth, and humanity. Now, this ancient legend will guide us to understand the world with the perspective of life and understand people with the perspective of nature." This graduation season creates a broad, cross-disciplinary, and youth-filled art festival that serves as a "youth declaration observing the times, a creative space-time of fusion and convergence, a heritage site of cultural classics, and a gathering place for various futures."

The Academy is committed to pioneering models for innovative talent training, aiming to develop high-quality talents with an innovative spirit and practical skills, thereby significantly contributing to societal advances.

As President Gao Shiming said, "The 'World Tree' tells us that our lives are always interconnected with others, our branches being connected to each other, growing entwined among the myriad things of the world, which is how one's personhood enriched. This requires a broader mind and deeper care. We can put together the poems by Mr. Tao Xingzhi from 1931 and 1946 in response to the call of the 'World Tree':

The universe is our school,
Nature is our teacher,
All beings are our classmates,
Together we compose poems.

Creation is the spring of life. It is not just giving; it itself is the reward."

SOURCE China Academy of Art