Chongqing - Recently, Chongqing held a meeting on public communication and culture, highlighting the urgency of building a culturally strong city in the new era. This involves promoting cultural prosperity through humanities, literature, and art, driving traditional culture's creative transformation and innovative development. The key initiative is to enhance the public cultural service system for both urban and rural areas, fostering a balanced and shared environment.
The International Light and Shadow Art Festival in Chongqing (Photo/Visual Chongqing)
In response to the development of urban public art in our city, Wei Ting, a member of the Jiulongpo District Committee of the Zhi Gong Party and deputy dean and professor of the School of Public Art of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, conducted an in-depth investigation.
Wei said public art has recently become a hot topic in urban construction research. Its significance is not only to enhance the city's image but also to bring new opportunities to urban development with its unique urban marketing power and driving force.
However, in our city's urbanization process, public art's role in assisting urban construction has not been maximized, and there is a lack of influential urban art IP. At present, social, aesthetic education, and public aesthetic education are mainly carried out in art galleries, cultural centers, and related cultural and artistic performances. Due to space and time constraints, public participation and the infiltration of the literary and artistic atmosphere need to be improved.
To address these issues, Wei wrote a public opinion message suggesting better planning and guidance for public art and increased investment in urban public art, public cultural service facilities, and public cultural undertakings. She emphasized using public cultural facilities like museums, art galleries, and cultural institutions to regularly conduct participatory public art activities, integrating the city's history and humanity to create a more artistic atmosphere and nurture the city's humanistic spirit.
This public opinion information has been taken seriously by the relevant departments. Relevant departments replied that Chongqing is closely concerned with the promotion of balanced development of public cultural services, protecting the cultural rights and interests of the people, and accelerating the construction of a high-quality public cultural service system.
By the end of 2023, the city will have built 42 public libraries, 41 cultural centers, and 12,150 grass-roots comprehensive cultural service centers, achieving full coverage of city, district and county, township (street), and village (community), and the area of public cultural facilities per 10,000 people increased to 760 square meters.
The rates of first-class libraries, cultural centers, and public libraries reached 95% and 90.7%, respectively, ranking second and third in the country. The three libraries and one center provide free services to the public 72 million times a year.
In addition, the "Citizen's Image Program" and other mass cultural brand activities have been carried out continuously to cultivate a group of high-profile urban image makers to discover the city's beauty and record the city's changes.
In terms of urban art IP creation, the city recently held the 2nd International Light Art Festival. With light and shadow as the medium and the city as the curtain, the festival creates an art event of co-creation, sharing, and communion. It creates a new digital art scene of "great beauty education, great beauty industry, and great beauty scenery."
(Cheng Jialu, as an intern, also contributed to the report)