Framing growing cultural connections
Innovative art residency program enhances exchanges between France and China, Cheng Yuezhu reports.
He first heard about Yishu 8 in 2010, when he'd just graduated from university. Since then, he has continued collaborating with the organization, hosting solo exhibitions and having his works displayed around the world.
"I think Yishu 8 was a pioneering organization at that time in constructing a nonprofit exchange platform to support artists. It's a difficult endeavor. Young artists especially need more of these kinds of opportunities," Huang says.
He participated in residencies in Paris in 2018 and 2023, each lasting around two months. During these periods, he was provided with a studio at the International City of the Arts, an artist-in-residence building complex near the Seine.
"Apart from its great location in central Paris, the complex was very international and diverse, with artists coming from all around the world, each with their own studios and working on all kinds of art forms, such as music, visual art, film and literature," Huang says.
"Getting to know these artists from different cultural backgrounds allows us to broaden our vision, providing us with abundant information and diverse perspectives for looking at and understanding the world, which is very important for artists."
