Implementing Cultural Identity in Global Perspective through

Contemporary Art: Study Case of “THROUGH” Workshop in

Beijing, China

Hanny Wijaya

and Amarena Nediari

New Media Program, Visual Communication Design Department, School of Design, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta,

Indonesia 11480

Interior Design Department, School of Design, Bina Nusantara University,

Jakarta, Indonesia 11480

Keywords: Cultural Identity, Contemporary Art

Abstract: Focused on the stance of culture in global perspective, this paper aimed to develop awareness in contemporary

society. Young generations nowadays immerse on technology and are mostly influenced by social media, they

become the victims of globalization. This issue has been reflected in many aspects, including art and design.

As educators, researchers try to find a method and solution to build understanding about the importance of

cultural identity. THROUGH workshop offered a new mindset that could be a sample and study case to create

mutual understanding between art, design, and culture, and how to present these aspects globally. Students

could learn about Chinese cultural contexts and try to relate it with global issues through their artwork.

Students focused on Chinese military rank badges as their main topic. They did their research based on

colours, symbols, and shapes. The final outcome was splendid not only from its visual aspects but also from

its cultural contexts. This artwork managed to represent Chinese identity in contemporary perspective that

can be present in global communities. Thus, this workshop acts as an experimental project that can encourage

young generation to explore more about their identity and implement their knowledge in global perspective

through their artwork.

1 INTRODUCTION

The vast development of our contemporary world has

influenced our society in various aspects.

Globalization has caused culture and traditions are

slowly disappeared from our daily life. Modern

people have been through these aspects without

realizing their importance. This state has been

reflected in many fields including art and design.

Understanding tradition can be a good start to

preserve our cultural identity in global perspective.

THROUGH workshop aimed to bring up this

issue and instigated a new mindset for young

generation, especially art and design students. It was

a workshop that focus on developing awareness,

especially for these students who live in

contemporary era. By understanding Chinese cultural

contexts and try to relate it with global issues. The

final outcomes of this workshop will bring us into a

series of artifacts that come from mutual

understanding between students who worked together

as a team for almost 3 weeks. Coming from different

mindset and personalities, they did through research

and applied it to their artwork.

This research was based on a study case from the

workshop, it had developed a new way of basic

research in design process and also gave opportunity

for students to experience working in team. Each

phase of research was guided by instructors, students

were allowed to discuss their ideas so that they could

create concept and produce the artwork. When the

concept was made, they presented it to the guest

lecturer who was hosted this workshop and to their

instructors as well. Afterwards, they got feedback to

continue their ideas into the final artwork.

Wijaya, H. and Nediari, A.

Implementing Cultural Identity in Global Perspective through Contemporary Art: Study Case of “THROUGH” Workshop in Beijing, China.

DOI: 10.5220/0010004900002917

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Social Sciences, Laws, Arts and Humanities (BINUS-JIC 2018), pages 195-200

ISBN: 978-989-758-515-9

195

2 METHODS

This paper was focused on the relation between

cultural context and historical content, which by its

nature acted as theoretical knowledge, that later will

be combined with practical skill through

experimental art in interdisciplinary perspective. This

research also applied practice based research and

constructivist learning as its methods. Practice-based

research is an original investigation undertaken in

order to gain new knowledge partly by means of

practice and the outcomes of that practice. “Practice-

based” or “practice-led” research: a research that is

initiated by practice and carried out through practice

(Adams, 2010). As what Schon had mentioned in his

book, practice-led research reflects a change in

emphasis in research from research about the Visual

Arts and artists, designers, craftspersons (as subject),

predominantly carried out by critics, theoreticians,

historians, etc., to a more pro-active research model

involving practitioners researching through action

and reflecting in and on action (Malins, 1995). The

different approaches to describing and interpreting art

constitute the so-called methodologies of artistic

analysis (Schon, 1983). Thus, by undertaking the

experimental art projects in contemporary

perspective and using theoretical frameworks as their

approach, researchers intended to apply new

methodologies that could reflect multi-discipline

subjects in Visual Arts and Communication Design

studies. This project integrated practical subjects such

as illustration, paper craft, and color theory with

theoretical subjects such as Chinese history and

interpreted them through contemporary perspective

so that it could represent Chinese cultural contexts in

global scale.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

For the mutual benefit and protection of Authors and

Publishers, it is necessary that Authors provide

formal written Consent to Publish and Transfer of

Consent ensures that the publisher has the Author’s

authorization to publish the Contribution.

A workshop is a period of discussion or practical

work on a particular subject in which a group of

people share their knowledge or experience.

THROUGH workshop was held at Gengdan

Academy of Design, Beijing, China, on December

2017. Hosted by guest lecturer from Indonesia, this

workshop was participated by 60-70 students,

majoring in Visual Communication Design, for

around three weeks and was supported by 5 lecturers

from China and Indonesia as their instructors. The

workshop brief was given in advance along with the

timetable and deadline, the students were suggested

not to think about the final outcomes first since they

needed to focus on finding ideas and following

research process before developing their artworks.

Since Chinese culture and tradition were the main

idea of this workshop, students needed to find the

answer of 5W (who, what, where, when, why) and 1H

(how) so that they could breakdown their creative

thinking before continue to decide what would be the

main topic that they wanted to develop. The students

started their research by collecting data and

information from many sources, such as books, online

literature, and documentation. They also conducted

interview and gathering more materials by doing

direct observation in museum and gallery.

Direct observation and data collection in was

conducted at CAFA (Central Academy of Fine Arts)

Art Museum in Beijing. The museum has become a

platform for the exchange of Chinese and foreign art,

as well as to provide a space for visit, study and

exhibition to CAFA faculties and students, the public,

domestic and foreign artists (Capital Museum

Exhibition, 2018). By visiting the museum, students

had good opportunity to observe the development of

contemporary art in China, either from local or

foreign artists, which also become an opportunity to

see the response to art communities in digital era.

Afterwards, the students were guided to visit

Beijing Capital Museum in order to do further

exploration about Chinese culture and tradition. The

general collections of this museum are mostly consist

of Chinese cultural heritage and artefacts, they are

chronologically displayed to inform visitors about

historical development in Beijing i.e. some

collections that show artefacts from primitive

residence place to the formation of a polis, from a

political center of North China to a united multi-

ethnic feudal state, and to the capital of the People’s

Republic of China (Cafa Museum, 2018). Students

gathered data and information from various sources,

especially for literature, they used both online and

offline sources. For online research, students used

Baidu as the main search engine to collect their data.

Actually it is the first and best Chinese search engine

that enables users to search millions of information

and images on the internet. Baidu is similar to Google

and offers similar products and services, it also

censors search result and other content based on

Chinese regulation (Investopedia, 2018). Gathering

data and information through online resources is very

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beneficial for students. They only need to search

specific keywords and they get information

immediately. They still need to analyse and interpret

it afterwards, but it does save time. During the

workshop, the students learned that they had to be

responsible with the sources they chose and how they

used it as references for their research.

This paper will focus on one out of ten groups that

had participated THROUGH workshop in Beijing,

China. This group selected Chinese traditional

clothing as one of significance cultural aspect as their

main topic. The students employed this knowledge as

their inspiration and ideas to develop artworks in

contemporary perspective. Working in group,

students had to do lots of discussion and which

direction they wanted to go for this research. Each

dynasty had its own uniqueness and characteristics of

their military clothing or uniform that could be

explored further during the research process. Those

characteristics could represent specific cultural

identity for each dynasty. The group found out that

during Ming and Qing Dynasties in China, important

person always put on splendid colours, gold threads

and specific patterns on their chest and back side of

clothing or robes to show their rank badges. There

were two categories of men who achieved badges,

civil and military. Each category had nine ranks.

Whereas the civil badges were featuring birds for

their symbols of identification, the military ranks

were featuring animals, both real and mythological,

as the identification symbols. There were minor

differences between the symbols from Ming and Qing

Dynasty. Later, in late Qing Dynasty, the rules about

clothing became more irrepressible (The Journal of

Antique and Collectibles, 2018). Thus, based on these

early findings, the group continued their research and

focused on symbolisation of Chinese military-rank

badges, especially from Qing Dynasty. Military-rank

badges were represented by specific colours on the

background and animals symbols above the colours.

Robes colours, helmets, and armours were the items

that had been used as the main resources by the

students in order to gather information about Chinese

military ranks. The badges were put on the front and

back of the ceremonial robes of courts officials to

indicate their ranks in both the civil and military

services (Wyatt, 2008).

The first step of students’ research was to find out

more about the history of military rank badges, the

symbols of each animal, and the interpretation of each

colour on badges as well. The military rank badges

were first introduced during the Ming period in 1391,

specifically from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) to

the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). Afterwards, the court

clothing regulations were published in 1652 and

revised by Qianlong Emperor in 1759. Rank badges

worn by court officials to signify their status in civil

or military sphere. There were two badges attached to

the clothing, one on the back and the other on the

front, it was divided on purpose in order to allow the

garment to be buttoned up on the front side. The

students had to select several decorative pattern that

could be applied on the lantern to illustrate the clear

ranks of military officer during the ancient time.

Military badges were easier to identify since they

were represented by different animals. The main

indicator of time periods in military rank-badges were

the background images of animal symbols, such as

water or cloud, since this background were able to

indicate the trend around that time (Turong, 2014).

Rank badges were produced by imperial workshops,

but for the higher rank badge is made by females of

the household in embroidery. In Qing Dynasty,

military badges were moved to outer garment while

in Ming Dynasty, it was displayed on the court robe.

The late Qing Dynasty (1652-1911) have nine ranks

that represented by different animals (Sarajo, 2018).

The first rank was represented by Qilin as the

symbol. It is Chinese mythical creature just like the

dragon and phoenix, and sometimes Qilin is written

as kilin or kylin. This mythical creature is believed as

the symbol of serenity and prosperity. Qilin is a

composite creature with a deer’s body and wolf’s

forehead, has two horns, an ox’s tail, horse’s hooves,

also five-coloured. Qilin is lively, intelligent and

gentle, but valorous to ward off devils (Chinasage,

2016). Qilin is powerful, benevolent, and auspicious,

thus it is suitable to be the highest rank for animal

representatives. Lion was applied to represent the

second rank of military officer in ancient China,

especially from Qing Dynasty. The lion symbolises

protection, harmony, blessings, and high rank.

Animals on military badges were always illustrated

with specific gestures and expression i.e. opened

mouths, perhaps to emphasise their ferocity. Lions

were conventionally shown with curled tails, manes,

and back hair that distinguished them from the

representations of bears (The Pacific Asia Museum,

2008). Lion also represents bravery, suitable its rank

as the son of the dragon in Chinese mythology. The

third military rank was symbolised by Leopard. It was

illustrated with the body facing one direction and the

head turning to face over its shoulder in the opposite

direction. It was found in mythology that leopard’s

head face toward the sun disk to represent the

emperor. Military men wanted the animals on their

badges to face the emperor as a sign of respect

(Denver Art Museum, 2018). Leopard’s rank is

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197

higher than the tiger’s, it also represent bravery and

speed. Tiger was believed as a symbol of courage and

ferocity. These characteristics were valued in military

world. In China, tiger was also considered as a

superior being that could protect human against evil

forces. Therefore, this animal was often illustrated on

clothing and accessories for young children (Sarajo,

2018). Tiger is a wild animal that represent the force,

king of animal, a symbol of good faith and ferocity.

Bear on rank badges was not represented bear as

wild animal in nature. It often featured in disheveled

manes, emphasising on its paws and extended tail.

Bear represented the fifth symbol in military ranks

and it was selected because of its supernatural power

in ancient Chinese mythology (The Metropolitan

Museum of Art, 2000). Bear is considered as a larger

animal that represent manliness, masculinity, fierce,

and a great strength. Panther, was also considered as

ferocious animal, a cruel predator in Chinese

mythology. During the Ming Dynasty’s period,

panther was identified as the sixth and seventh of rank

badges in military, but later in 1759, during the Qing

Dynasty’s period, it was replaced by Rhinoceros as a

symbol of the seventh-rank officer (Welch, 2013).

Panther is characterised as a young tiger with atrocity,

tough and inexorability. The seventh and eighth ranks

of Qing Dynasty’s military badges were represented

by Rhinoceros. It was not the same with rhinoceros in

real nature, instead the name rhinoceros was

translated from ancient Chinese mythological

creature Xiniu. Another translation of xiniu would be

an auspicious ox (Bates, 2008). Rhinoceros represents

a weapon, an armour with incisive and boisterous

characteristics.

Last but not least, Seahorse, an interesting

creature that represented the ninth rank of military

badges. For low rank officers, holding this badge was

considered as a great honour. When they passed

away, their military clothing was buried together with

them since it was a significant tribute of their lifetime.

Thus, it was hard to find the evidence of the seahorse

rank badges because most of them were concealed or

hidden with the deceased body of the military officers

in the tombs (The Journal of Antique and

Collectibles, 2018). Seahorse is an amphibious

double line creature, it has a mysterious, brace, battle

wise and have commanding ability.

Figure 1. Early sketch symbols of military rank-badges on

lantern design

Figure 2. The shape of Baqua from ancient Chinese

symbols.

On Figure 1, the group presented early ideas of their

artworks. They focused on the colours of clothing

from each military rank as background and the helmet

form as the main structures of their lantern design.

There were nine ranks in military, but in total actually

there were eight animals or creatures that symbolised

the rank badges. On the top of lanterns, students

created shape that imitate the military helmet. Their

original idea was to place or hang the lanterns the

highest rank on the top and the lowest rank badges at

the lower level.

However, after further discussion with the guest

lecturer and instructors, they were suggested to

combine all small lanterns into one big lantern to

represent the ‘wholeness’ and ‘unity’ of ideas.

Therefore, they created one big lantern with eight

sides or surfaces, and the final form of their artwork

would be a combination between Bagua from ancient

Chinese symbols and the military helmet. Bagua (also

called Pa Kua) is an 8-sided shape that is made of 8

trigrams (Figure 2). ‘Ba’ means eight and ‘gua’

means areas or sections; collectively Bagua refers to

a group of eight symbols that have specific meaning

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in the Chinese philosophy. The Bagua symbol is also

a traditional Feng Shui too (Ancient-Symbols, 2018).

After finalised their ideas, students started to

implement their concept into design. At this phase,

the group managed to interpret their ideas and

translate the rank badges, symbols, and colours into

other shape and size. Students delivered their critical

and creative thinking through their design concepts

and started to developing their artwork. Further

discussion continued and focused on technical

matters such as the choice of materials, artwork

display, and size of the lantern. They did more

discussion within the group members and

consultation with guest lecturer and instructors to find

the answers of their questions. All participants

worked together as a team and they tried to find the

solutions of some issues that might come out during

their design process.

Figure 3. Tracing and visualising the image of mythological

creature from each military rank.

The next phases were to start preparing the

materials and implementing their ideas into the real

artwork. Tracing and crafting the symbols on paper

were the next step before continuing to construct the

structure of big lantern. The final outcome of the

group was a big octagonal shape lantern in

60x60x90cm size. The lantern was placed on the top

of pedestal and lighting was installed inside of lantern

to emphasise the silhouette of each animal and the

background colour of each military rank. It also put

the basic function of lantern as an artificial lighting.

Figure 4. Big Lantern in octagonal shape showing eight

mythological animals that represent military rank-badges.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The case study that researchers had delivered to

students through practice-based method and

interdisciplinary approach had shown satisfactory

outcomes in general. Students’ response of this

project was good and they realised the importance of

teamwork and research process in order to create

good design. By understanding the Chinese cultural

contexts, they could develop interesting ideas for

their design that represent cultural identity. They also

managed to relate several subjects into their own

background research, like Illustration, Paper Crafting,

and Colour Theory, which then could be interpreted

in contemporary perspective. This project allowed

them to understand about the unity of learning

subjects in Visual Communication Design and

Contemporary Art Practice. Thus, this experimental

project can become a new method that can encourage

young generation, especially design students, to

implement their understanding about cultural identity

in global perspective through their artwork.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Researchers would like to express heartfelt thanks to

Visual Communication Design Department, Gengdan

Academy of Design, Beijing, China for their helpful

support during the workshop. We also appreciate all

students and lecturers that had been involved and

participated in this project and made it happen

successfully.

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