Cao Zhen caozhen0806@126.com EIGHT artworks designed by eight domestic contemporary artists and handmade by seven traditional handicraft people are on display at the “Cross Line” exhibition at C2 in OCT-LOFT. Separated by huge bamboo curtains, the eight artworks feature metal wire crocheting, cotton thread weaving, rattan weaving, bamboo weaving and silk embroidery. Chinese cultural expert and art critic Wang Luxiang said the exhibition is a dialogue between contemporary art and traditional handicrafts and is, hopefully, an extension of both. “Those materials are normally for practical use and handicrafts are classified as traditional culture, but now we are doing an experiment through this exhibition to see how we can inherit handcraftsmanship and extend it to contemporary art,” said Wang at the opening of the exhibition Saturday. “When talking about contemporary art, people often associate it with Western art and it seems that Chinese artists always learn from the West. We initiated this exhibition to see whether there’s a possibility of integrating Chinese intangible cultural heritage into contemporary art.” Oil painter Shao Yinong’s silk embroidery work “1956 Five-Yuan Note” appears to be an apt example of this combination of contemporary art and handicrafts. The piece is an embroidered five-yuan Chinese banknote from 1956. Wang said that when Shao asked the embroiderers in Suzhou to do the work, no matter how much Shao paid to them, they refused to do it in the beginning. “The embroiderers normally do auspicious designs with bright colors, such as red, green and yellow, but Shao’s banknote design is in black, grey and white, which made the embroiderers feel uneasy,” said Wang. “I think this project reflects the conflict between traditional embroidery culture and Shao’s contemporary art concept. During the communication between Shao and the embroiderers, Shao tried to convey his concept to them, and since the banknote’s design is different from traditional auspicious designs, the ladies had to explore new embroidery techniques.” Other handicraft people are from Guizhou, Shandong and Guangdong provinces. Shenzhen artist Zhou Li’s installation “Dreaming of Butterflies” is a combination of steel scaffolds and cotton-woven butterflies, or a mix of toughness and tenderness. The framework of the huge butterflies hung on the scaffolds is steel and the wings are made of cotton threads to create transparent, delicate and frail images. This weaving craft was from Guizhou and during the past weekend, a Guizhou craftswoman was demonstrating weaving with old wooden looms at the exhibition. Wang said this artwork also implies that a city is made by countless scaffolds but only beautiful buildings remain after. People cannot see the scaffolds anymore. The exhibition in C2 is part of the OCT-LOFT Creative Festival, which will include a drawn thread work workshop on the afternoon of Dec. 19 and a bamboo-weaving workshop Jan. 16 at A3+ in OCT-LOFT. The workshops and exhibition are free of admission.Dates: Until March 6 Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Mondays Venues: C2 (exhibition), A3+ (workshops), North Area, OCT-LOFT, Nanshan District (南山区华侨城创意文化园北区C2展厅和A3+工作坊) Metro: Luobao Line, Qiaocheng East Station (侨城东站), Exit A | 