“Eternal connections” – exhibition of Polish culture in China

On January 25 – April 24, 2019 in the city of Kaifeng (Henan Province) took place the exhibition “Eternal Bonds”, celebrating the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Poland and China. It included three expositions: an exhibition of Polish artistic jewelry with amber “Beauty trapped in time”, an exhibition of photographs “Polish UNESCO monuments” and an informative exhibition “About Poland”. The event was organized by Millennium City Park and Mr. Sebastian Tajl (initiator and curator of exhibitions), in cooperation with the Foreign Center of the Polish Tourist Organization in Beijing, the Polish Institute in Beijing and the International Amber Association. The honorary patronage over the event was taken by the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland in Beijing, Mr. Wojciech Zajączkowski.

Below is the text from the official event report by the exhibition organizer, Mr. Sebastian Tajl:

“The exhibition opening ceremony was honored by the presence of representatives of the city, park and local elite, including Mr. Ding Dong – Deputy Secretary of the Kaifeng City Hall, Mr. Zhang Kebin – Deputy Chairman of the Kaifeng City Tourism Committee, Ms. Li Man – Deputy Secretary of the Party’s Office Committee Monuments and Director of the Po Pagoda Office in Kaifeng and Ms. Zhang Wangshuang – Director of Millenium City Park.Inauguration of the event was also attended by the Director of ZOPOT in Beijing – Ms. Zuzanna Gutkowska and
IP representative in Beijing – Ms Ewa Szkudelska. The exhibition presents the works of 29 Polish artists-jewelers (over 50 exhibits), 19
photographs of Polish UNESCO monuments and 20 boards with interesting information about Poland (concerning its culture, architecture or contemporary achievements of Poles). The main attraction of the event was the idea of ​​creating a mural connecting Polish and Chinese cultures. Krakow artist Iwona Tamborska (author of the mural project) and Jiao Weidong – a member of the Henanian Artists’ Association, for several days, together painted a work measuring almost 20 m2, depicting the former city of Kaifeng and containing elements referring to both cultures. This event aroused enormous interest in the media and visitors. The main purpose of the “Eternal Bonds” exhibition was to interest Polish culture, art and tourist attractions of the largest group of Chinese recipients, and to emphasize how important it is to maintain good relations between Poland and China. According to the management of Millennium Park, 1.08 million people saw the exhibition for three months. A report on the event was shown in the main issue of Kaifeng City TV news. Over 10 articles have been published in newspapers and on Internet news sites. This makes it one of the most watched presentations about Poland in its entire history. ”

My jewelry works were exhibited at the exhibition “Beauty stopped in time” – an exhibition of Polish artistic jewelry with amber
(works of 29 outstanding Polish artists-jewelers were exhibited). Authors of exhibited works:

Dariusz Ptak, Iwona Tamborska, Dorota Cenecka, Andrzej i Jolanta Kupniewscy, Ela i Marek Pawłowscy, Tomasz Kargul, Danuta Czapnik, Dorota Gulbierz, Marta Włodarska, Tadeusz Dobkowski, Maja Woźniak, Jacek Ostrowski, Wanda i Bogdan Frydrychowicz, Jan Pomianowski, Paulina Binek, Mariusz Gliwiński, Bartosz Ciba, Krzysztof Nowiński, Woytek Rygało, Anna Betley, Bogusław Kołpak, Przemysław Kuś, Jacek Baron, Piotr Zarański, Roman Kowalkowski, Artur Wybacz.

In addition to my role as one of the authors of the works at the exhibition, I was also supposed to take part in an accompanying event. It lasted from January 24-30, 2019 – “painting a mural that connects Polish and Chinese cultures by Krakow’s artist Iwona Tamborska and Chinese master Jiao Weidong”.

Projekt miał na celu spontaniczną radość tworzenia i połączenie myśli twórczej dwóch nacji. W związku z tym ja i mistrz Jiao Weidong mieliśmy 2 h na stworzenie spontanicznej koncepcji obrazu łączącego motyw przyjaźni Polski i Chin i miasta Kaifeng. Kolejne 6 dni przeznaczone było na malowanie obrazu o powierzchni 10 m x 2 m.

The project goal was to spark a spontaneous joy of creation and to combine the creative spirits of two nations. Therefore, me and master Jiao Weidong had 2 hours to create a spontaneous concept of a picture combining the theme of friendship between Poland and China and the city of Kaifeng. The next 6 days were intended for painting a picture with an area of 10 m x 2 m.

The centrally located bridge is one of the most recognizable points of the Millenium City Park in Kaifeng.

The topic was difficult, time was running fast, thermal conditions (4C) were not favorable, neither of us spoke a common language – but the most important goal was achieved: we had fun at work creating mutually joyful atmosphere, hiding some jokes in the details of the picture (donuts, dumplings, people with mobile phones, bison, people riding storks in the sky). Thank you very much for this master Jiao Weidong and the organizers of the exhibition! I met many wonderful people, learned new things, ate a lot of unimaginable delicacies (ah, Kaifeng noodles !!!).

At the end of the story a photo with a camel that snorted at me 🙂