Glasgow drawn to Beijing. And vice versa

Scottish Art in Beijing

An exhibition of work from postgraduate students at Glasgow School of Art (GSA) took place in Beijing this October. How did this come about?

In the late 1990s, a promising young Chinese curator with a passion for conceptual art, decided to broaden his horizons. Having heard great things about Glasgow School of Art and, in particular, its post-graduate master of fine arts courses, the curator Pi Li travelled to the city to see for himself.

Under the auspices of the British Council, he spent a year working at the school. Before returning to Beijing, he thanked the head of the fine arts course for her help and said, perhaps some day, he could return the favour. Seven years on he did just that. Around 40 exhibits went from GSA to Beijing. The pieces paintings, sculptures and a host of less orthodox creations went on display for a month in Beijings prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts. Pi Li is now curator of the Academy. The postgraduates artwork was in good company. The exhibition coincided with the second Beijing International Art Biennale, the largest art festival yet staged in China. More than 500 leading artists from around the world exhibited their work, with Scotland represented by John Bellany. (You can read more about Scottish contemporary painting in the Global Friends of Scotland feature Art for all and all for art.)

Chinese art students in Scotland

The Master of Fine Arts (MFA) course at GSA is now internationally recognised; across the 40 students on the two-year Glasgow course there are students from 15 countries. But in addition to this GSA has designed a one year course which will enable up to 100 Chinese students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts to come to Scotland each year and work towards the Certificate of Scottish Higher Education. They will then be able to progress to a degree course at either GSA or Edinburgh College of Art.

Professor Seona Reid, Director of GSA is very positive about this joint initiative. The collaborative First Year programme in Art, Design and Architecture which we have developed is the first of its kind. It offers Chinese students the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the UK approach to art and design education and enhance their English prior to joining GSA to complete their degree in Scotland. The growing bond between the two institutions has huge potential and I look forward to realising it with further education and research collaborations.

The new course started in Beijing this October and the first group of Chinese students are due to arrive in Scotland in October 2006.

Long-standing links

Scotland has historic links with China going back to the 18th Century but it is really since Scotland embraced Chinas open door policy in the 1980s that strong educational links have started to form. Since the early 1980s the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has been a key partner in major collaborative work between Chinese and western botanists. In 1997 the Sino Scottish Institute at the University of Abertay was established to promote good economic, cultural, business and political relationships between Scottish organisations and China. In 1999 Napier University was one of the first UK universities to establish a presence in Beijing and in 2003 launched the China EU Development and Research Centre which provides research and consultancy services as well as advice to private and public sector organisations in China. Also in 2003 the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Chinese Academy of Sciences developed a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate research between the two countries. One very measurable outcome is that the number of Chinese students in Scotland has grown from 408 in 1998/99 to 2,666 in 2002/03.

The West of course has always been fascinated by Chinese culture and art and Scottish galleries like the Ivy Wu Gallery at the Royal Museum in Edinburgh provide ideal opportunities to engage with historical aspects of China. The recent One Million Days in China exhibition which ran at The Burrell Collection Glasgow from July 2004 to February 2005 explored and celebrated 4000 years of Chinese history and culture through Sir William Burrells world-class collection of Chinese art and attracted 197,000 visitors.

Coming right up to date

Pi Li and his Beijing students couldnt fail to be further impressed by the reputation of GSA with the 2005 Turner Prize being won by a former graduate. Simon Starling, who is also based in Glasgow and a main exhibitor at the Scottish Pavillion Venice Biennale 2003 (see A Brush with International Fame). He is fascinated by transforming one object or substance into another: for Tabernas Desert Run 2004, Starling crossed the Tabernas desert in Spain on an improvised electric bicycle. The only waste the vehicle produced was water, which he used to paint an illustration of a desert cactus. The contrast between the supremely efficient plant and the contrived efforts of man is both comic and insightful, highlighting the commercial exploitation of natural resources in the region.

Shedboatshed (Mobile Architecture No 2) 2005 has a similar circularity. Starling dismantled a shed and used some of the wood to make a boat. He loaded the rest of the wood from the shed onto the boat and paddled it down the Rhine to a museum in Basel. He then dismantled the boat and rebuilt the shed. Starlings new work One Ton, II 2005 looks at energy consumption in particular the huge amounts of energy used to produce tiny quantities of platinum. The work displays how one ton of ore, mined from the South African open cast mine, is needed to produce five handmade platinum prints.

Maybe the winner of the 2010 Tuner Prize winner will also be a graduate from GSA but hail from Beijing.

Turner Prize 2005, Supported by the makers of Gordons. Exhibition: 18 October 2005 - 22 January 2006.