Building an art bridge
By Qin Jian
Photo by Yao Fan

五年前,来自荷兰的伊尼卡·顾蒙逊夫人与厦门大学艺术教育学院合作,共同建起了中西艺术交流的殿堂--中国欧洲艺术中心.五年来,它为厦门以及其它地方的艺术爱好者提供了一个高雅的艺术欣赏场所.而厦门更是因为艺术,焕发了不同寻常的风采.甚至在荷兰,许多普通民众都知道这个美丽的海滨城市,知道这里有个欧洲艺术中心.这一切与顾蒙逊夫人的努力是分不开的,是她架起了中西艺术交流的桥梁.

An idea takes root
Five years ago Mrs Ineke Gudmundsson, who comes from the Netherlands, decided to set up an art gallery so that she could use the space to introduce contemporary art from both China and Europe.

"I immediately liked Xiamen very much when I visited the city for the first time in 1998," she said. "I enjoyed the beautiful landscape, nice people, unique traditional culture and the rapid development of the economy of Xiamen."

Now Mrs Gudmundsson is an international traveler, not a tourist but an artist and organizer of many activities concerned with visual art. She and her husband, Mr Sigurdur Gudmundsson, a well-known artist, have held art exhibitions in many important art museums in a number of countries. The active art ambience of Xiamen reminded Ineke of the 1960s and 1970s of Europe, a period in which everything was blooming.

However, after Ineke stayed in Xiamen for two years, she felt there was something missing. There were no art museums or galleries in Xiamen. As an experienced expert who had set up many art galleries in the Netherlands and Iceland, she strongly believed that it was the right time to build a bridge between Chinese and European contemporary art in Xiamen. The idea began to take root in her mind.

Set up a bridge
In cooperation with the Art College of Xiamen University, the Chinese European Art Center was finally set up in 1999. Since then, exhibitions of contemporary art from both Chinese and European artists have been held one after another. Through this platform, students from art colleges, artists from Xiamen or even from some other cities in China come to the exhibitions and meet artists from different places, despite the fact that there are always people who find it difficult to understand contemporary art.

"It does not really matter whether or not people understand or enjoy contemporary art; the important thing is that people have opportunities to view life in different ways and perspectives. The more in touch they get with art exhibitions, the more they will understand it - and that should be one of the basic reasons for holding visual art exhibitions here. People who get together at the exhibitions can discuss art or raise questions to the exhibitors, and that is also an important way of bringing culture and art to our life." Culture and art are just as important as economy and science. That is why Ineke has been keeping herself so busy working in the Art Center for the last five years.

One year after the Chinese European Art Center was set up, Mrs Gudmundsson invited European artists as artists in residence. Artists who come to Xiamen normally stay in the Xiamen University for three months and are inspired by the different cultural life and their experience of being in Xiamen results in the creation of new art exhibitions in the Chinese European Art Center.

A person who sows reaps
As the saying goes: As a man sows, so shall he reap. Due to her unremitting efforts, the Chinese European Art Center is drawing more and more attention from the art field of both China and Europe. Through her promotions, a lot of people in the Netherlands get to know about the beautiful Chinese coastal city - Xiamen.

"Xiamen has become widely known to people in the Netherlands. I remember one time when I was back in Amsterdam, with my heavy luggage in hand, I was buying some gifts for my children when I heard two people behind me who were talking about me and the Chinese European Art Center in Xiamen. I didn’t turn around and tell them that I was the very Dutch lady whom they were talking about as I was a bit shy," Mrs Gudmundsson recalled in vivid detail.

Last year, Mrs Gudmundsson was granted the "Friendship Award" by the Fujian Provincial Government in honor of her contributions. She has a lot of dreams for the future of Xiamen. She would like to collect contemporary art pieces from international artists for the Xiamen Modern Art Museum, and would like to see that one day Xiamen would be on the international map of world of contemporary art.

 

 

My Xiamen

I am John Simonton. I came from Victoria Canada in February, 2000 to teach at XIS (Xiamen International School). I have been teaching or working with youth for 18 years. My last overseas job was in Malawi, Africa.

1. How long have you been in Xiamen?
Over 4 years.

2. What do you like best about life here?
People and the city itself - especially the food.

3. What’s your job here? How do you like your job?
High school teacher at XIS. I like my job a lot - good teaching experience.

4. How do you spend your spare time in Xiamen?
I like eating, looking around and watching cheap DVDs.

5. If there is one thing that you could change about Xiamen, what would that be?
Fewer cars - Xiamen was much nicer 4 years ago.

6. What’s your favorite restaurant?
A Dongbei restaurant opposite Zhongshan Hospital.

7. What do you like best about Xiamen?
Easy to get around and constantly changing, shops, food and activities.

8. Compared with other big cities in China, what do you think are the differences between Xiamen and them?
Slower pace of life - definitely friendlier people.

9. What’s the last great book you read?
Care of the Soul.

10. What’s your favorite quotation or piece of advice?
Life can suck, but tomorrow is a new day and you never know what may happen. (I tell the students this when they are complaining about something.)