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#ReConnect 2021 UK-China Contemporary Culture Festival launched

  • #ReConnect – a
    hybrid festival featuring online and offline work by leading British art and
    cultural organisations and artists, launched by the British Council.
  • Partnering with
    over 35 cultural organisations from the UK and China, the Festival offers thought
    provoking and stimulating experiences with British arts and culture.
  • The Festival
    presents the diverse breadth of contemporary UK arts, culture and education to
    inspire and connect audiences in China and beyond with British creativity.
  • The Festival aims
    to strengthen the connection between China and the UK through shared values in
    culture and education.


BEIJING, KUNMING,
SHANGHAI, SHENZHEN AND ZHENGZHOU – Media
OutReach
– 6 September 2021 – The British Council launched
the 2021 UK-China Contemporary Culture Festival. Titled #ReConnect, this year’s edition is
a hybrid festival featuring work by leading British art and cultural
organisations and artists via online and offline platforms, offering audiences
in China an opportunity to reconnect with British art from Scotland, Wales,
Northern Ireland and England. Organised by the British Council, the UK’s
international organisation for cultural relations and education opportunities, and
sponsored by the Welsh Government, the festival will present nearly 40 cultural
performances and projects online and offline in multiple cities across China
between 1 and 20 September 2021.


 


“We are delighted to be a partner of the British
Council, supporting the 2021 UK-China Contemporary Culture Festival to give
people in China an opportunity to experience three wonderful examples of art
and culture from Wales.The theme of the festival, reconnecting, is more
important now than ever – reconnecting with our environment and our
communities, both locally and across borders. I hope our contribution to the
festival will encourage audiences to do just that, building new cultural
connections between our two nations” said
Rt Hon Mark Drakeford, First
Minister of Wales
.


 


Focusing on three different themes, the Festival
will encourage audiences to #ReConnect with nature, community and the self
through a variety of exhibitions, talks, panel discussions, film screenings and
performances. #ReConnect with Nature will explore the deep
relationship between humans and nature; #ReConnect
with Community
will explore the
connection and consequence of human experience and our community; and #ReConnect with Self will support individuals
to increase empathy and self-awareness.


 


Highlight projects under #ReConnect with Nature include:

  • British visual artist
    Celyn Bricker’s first solo exhibition in China, titled The Fifth Season.
    Bringing together interactive, AI generated artworks, paintings and prototypes,
    the exhibition held in Beijing will explore our relationship with nature and
    new technology.
  • An online talk held in
    partnership with the Natural History Museum, -titled Our Broken Planet: How
    We Got Here and Ways to Fix It
    will see young changemakers from the UK and
    China debate why and how our relationship with the natural world needs to change.
  • Eye of the Storm, a documentary film featuring
    Scottish landscape painter James Morrison will be screened in Shanghai,
    directed by award-winning director Anthony Baxter.
  • Dog Ballet, from the London
    International Festival of Theatre, is a webinar about a new participatory work
    of public art to celebrate the community around dogs and their owners to appreciate
    the joy and tenderness that can be found in these relationships of mutual care.


#ReConnect with Community will share work from the
UK that places emphasis on the changing nature of community, as well as talks
from leading arts and cultural experts alongside knowledge sharing events from dance
and theatre producers. Selected highlights include:

  • O’r Graig, a short documentary featuring
    slate mines in North Wales, which have recently been designated UNESCO heritage
    status.
  • Journey to the Eyeth Art, a virtual art gallery
    showcasing the creativity of deaf artists in an imaginary world called Eyeth
    and a celebration of inclusiveness in the art for all.
  • Match Make is a series of short
    films which paired 8 dance artists and 8 artist collaborators during the height
    of the Covid-19 pandemic, which include natural, industrial, rural, urban and
    coastal settings throughout Northern Ireland.  


#ReConnect with Self will focus on activities
that explore mental health and well-being. Highlight projects include:

  • Time to Dance China, an international
    digital collaboration between the Scottish Ballet and Shanghai International
    Dance Centre designed to deliver dementia-friendly dance activities for elderly
    people as well as a dance film screening.
  • An online solo exhibition
    of works by award-winning British artist Sir Christopher Le Brun, in addition
    to an online talk between Sir Christopher Le Brun and renowned art critic,
    writer and curator Shen Qilan.


At this time of
limited travel, we are excited to once again bring
some of the most dynamic
and vibrant artistic and cultural performances, exhibitions and talks from the
UK
to audiences in China and offer people the choice
to experience these in person or online. With the theme of #ReConnect, we hope
to inspire our audience to re-evaluate their relationship with the natural environment,
their community, and themselves. The world is going though unprecedented
changes at this time, and arts and culture have the power to bring people together
t
hrough presenting programmes in partnership with institutions
and artists in the UK and China. The Festival acts as a platform to share
knowledge, spark discussions and stimulate thinking among our audiences
.” Said Rehana Mughal, Director Arts for the British
Council China.


Programme list










































 

Activity

Date

Partner

Format

Geography

ReConnect
with Nature

 

1

British Library Exhibitions in Two Cities: London – Shenzhen

 

Sept
1 – 20

British
Library

Online showcase

England

2

Affiliated Event – The Fifth Season by Celyn
Bricker
  (online talk)

Sept 18

Winland

Online event

 

England/Beijing

 

3

Broken Planet Programme (online
talk for climate change between Glasgow and Kunming)

Sept 17

Natural History Museum

Online event

England/Scotland/Kunming

4

Eye of the Storm documentary featuring
Scottish landscape painter James Morrison in Shanghai

Sept
16

Montrose Pictures

Offline event

Scotland/Shanghai

5

Eye of the Storm documentary featuring
Scottish landscape painter James Morrison in Shanghai

 

Sept
19

Montrose Pictures

 

Online
showcase

Scotland

 

6

Our Future Planet (Films and talks for
Sustainability and the impact of Climate Change)

Sept
1 – 20

Science
Museum Group

Online showcase

England

7

The Children of Lir (performances of
raising environmental awareness)

Sept
1 – 20

Folk
NI Theatre

Online showcase

Northern Ireland

8

Dog Ballet (Webinar)

Sept
15

London
International Festival of Theatre

 

Online
event

England

9

CURRENT (films of the
exhibition)

Sept
13 – 20

Cooper
Gallery

Online
showcase

Scotland

10

Design and Sustainable Business Futures (panel discussion with Joey
Pringle and others)

TBC

Veshin
Factory

Online
Event

England

ReConnect with Community

 

11

Making Matters

Sept
13 – 20

IM

Online showcase

Across UK

12

Short Film Project for
Female Directors
(panel discussion)

Sept
12

Encounters
Film Festival, One International Women’s Festival

Online event

England/Beijing

13

Breathe and Draw (Orchestra Music)

Sept 1 – 20

 

Nevis
Ensemble

 

Online showcase

Scotland

14

Mojo Mickybo (theatre film)

 

Sept 1 – 20

Bruiser
Theatre Company

 

Online
showcase

Northern
Ireland

15

Songs for Heritage and
Culture of Northern Ireland

 

Sept 6 – 20

 

Brigid
O’Neill

 

Online
showcase

Northern
Ireland

 

16

Match Make (8 short films)

 

Sept 1 – 20

 

Maiden
Voyage Dance Company

 

Online
showcase

Northern
Ireland

 

17

Plethu/Weave Project (series of
dance-poetry performance films)

 

Sept 1 – 20

 

National
Dance Company Wales, Literature Wales

 

Online
showcase

Wales

18

Nurture (performance film)

 

Sept 1 – 20

 

Bbeyond

Online
showcase

Northern
Ireland

 

19

Creative Ageing in Scotland (online talk by
Luminate Festival)

Sept 1 – 20

 

Luminate
Festival

Online
showcase

Scotland

20

O’r Graig (short documentary of
UNESCO world heritage slate in North Wales)

Sept 1 – 20

 

Wicked
Wales Film

Online
showcase

Wales

21

Beijing Stories (film screening)

Sept 1 – 20

Scottish
Documentary Institute

Online
showcase

Scotland

22

Beijing Stories (artist talk)

Sept 20

Scottish
Documentary Institute

 

Online
event

Scotland

 

23

Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth an introduction
speaker: Nikki Locke

Sept 16

British
Council

Online
event

Across
UK

24

Deaf Culture Online Exhibition curated by Zhou Jiayi

Sept 1 – 20

 

Artist
Jiayi Zhou

Online
showcase

Across
UK

25

Selector Online Competition

Sept 15

British
Council

Online
Showcase

Across
UK

ReConnect
with Self


26

[Hé]

Scottish
Dance Theatre x Shanghai International Dance Centre Collaboration (dance film
screening)

Sept
1- 20

Scottish
Dance Theatre, Shanghai International Dance Centre

Online
showcase

Scotland

27

Time to Dance (film
screening)

Sept
7

Scottish
Ballet, Luminous Festival

Online showcase

Scotland

28

Notes on Stone (Anna
Mahler)

film screening

Sept
10 – 20

Stephenson
Art

Online showcase

England

29

Future of Art
Education
(film screening & panel discussion)

 

Sept 16

 

Cloud
Intelligence

Online event

Beijing

30

Affiliated event -Solo
Exhibition of works by Sir Christopher Le Brun  (online talk with artist Sir Christopher Le
Brun & Shen Qilan)

Sept
13

Lisson
Gallery

Online event

England/Shenzhen

31

Affiliated event – Italian
Renaissance Drawings

Sept
17

British
Museum, M Woods

Online event

England/Beijing

32

Affiliated event – Masterpieces in Miniature:
Treasures from the Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection

Sept
19

V&A
Museum

Offline event

 

England/Zhengzhou

33

Glass Meet the Future short films

Sept
1-20

North
Lands Creative

 

Online showcase

Scotland

34

Artes Mundi Prabhakar Pachpute Exhibition (artist introduction)

Sept
1-20

 

ARTES
MUNDI 

 

Online showcase

 

Wales

35

Origin to Future Thinking, podcast with Farooq Chaudhry, Xu Rui, and Rui Fu

Sept
1-20

China
House Arts

Online showcase

England

36

2021 British Classical Art Film Festival at
Lumiere Beijing,
New Live Screenings

Sept
1-5

New
Live

Offline
showcase

 

 




Media kit


#ReConnect


2021 UK-China
Contemporary Culture Festival


 


Organiser: British Council


Sponsor: The Welsh Government


Period: 1-20 September 2021


Festival portal:
http://reconnect.britishcouncil.cn/  


British
Council WeChat ‘bc-china’ and ‘UK_NOW’


British
Council Weibo @英国大使馆文化教育处,
@艺述英国


Festival visual material
bank:


Baidu Cloud Link:
https://pan.baidu.com/s/1v-0MiFLbomjVJFHsQVpUxw  


Pin:
p7wt


 


Notes to editors


 


The Welsh Government




Wales is a country in the UK with distinctive
traditions, heritage, culture and language. It is known as a land of song and a
country steeped in myth and legend, which, when you see the awe-inspiring
landscape, is no surprise.


 


The Welsh national anthem picks out ‘beirdd a
chantorion’ – the poets and singers – for special mention. Today, the
Welsh music and arts scenes are alive with the sounds of bilingual music,
poetry, art, and everything in between.


 


Learn more about Wales at wales.com


#BritishCouncil #ReConnect


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