[Event] German Contemporary Children’s Book Illustration Exhibition and Kirsten Boy’s Works Exhibition

   
Orga­niz­er: Goethe-Insti­tut (Chi­na)
   
Loca­tion: Cen­tral Acad­e­my of Fine Arts, etc.
   
When: April 16–25

   
Ger­man pic­ture books and chil­dren’s book illus­tra­tions are char­ac­ter­ized by their vibrant and diverse art­work, and Ger­man illus­tra­tions are increas­ing­ly suc­cess­ful and rec­og­nized inter­na­tion­al­ly. In the past five years in par­tic­u­lar, many new and inter­est­ing forms have emerged. Illus­tra­tors from dif­fer­ent gen­er­a­tions, with their unique visu­al lan­guage, have cap­ti­vat­ed both chil­dren and adults.

   
The “Con­tem­po­rary Ger­man Chil­dren’s Book Illus­tra­tions” exhi­bi­tion, co-orga­nized by the Goethe-Insti­tut and the Trois­dorf Pic­ture Book Muse­um, aims to pro­mote the high qual­i­ty of Ger­man pic­ture and chil­dren’s book illus­tra­tions and the diver­si­ty of illus­tra­tive styles abroad. The exhi­bi­tion fea­tures works by 13 care­ful­ly select­ed artists, allow­ing view­ers to explore the cre­ative achieve­ments of renowned Ger­man illus­tra­tors. In addi­tion to inter­na­tion­al­ly acclaimed mas­ters such as Janos, Klaus Ensickart, and Wolf Elbruch, the exhi­bi­tion also show­cas­es young illus­tra­tors whose work reflects new trends in the art of illus­tra­tion. The exhi­bi­tion also vivid­ly show­cas­es the diverse range of tech­niques employed by artists today. While some tal­ent­ed illus­tra­tors cre­ative­ly car­ry on the tra­di­tion­al paint­ing tech­niques of old­er artists, a younger gen­er­a­tion is explor­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ties of dig­i­tal tech­nol­o­gy for pic­to­r­i­al com­po­si­tion.

   
In the ear­ly spring of 2006, a selec­tion of orig­i­nal illus­tra­tions were exhib­it­ed at the Pic­ture Book Muse­um in Trois­dorf.
A world tour of its repli­cas began in July. Since last year, the exhi­bi­tions in Greater Chi­na, includ­ing Hong Kong, Taipei, and Ulaan­baatar, have been a huge suc­cess. In mid-April of this year, the exhibits will be on dis­play for two weeks at the Cen­tral Acad­e­my of Fine Arts in Bei­jing.

   
In addi­tion, we will be pre­sent­ing a con­cur­rent exhi­bi­tion of Kirsten Boye’s works. Kirsten Boye is one of Ger­many’s most renowned and suc­cess­ful female authors of chil­dren’s and young adult books. She cel­e­brat­ed her 60th birth­day on March 19, 2010. The exhi­bi­tion, enti­tled “Grow­ing Up with Kirsten Boye,” is rich in con­tent, cov­er­ing themes, lit­er­ary gen­res, sub­ject mat­ter, and writ­ing style. Win­ner of the 2007 Ger­man Prize for Young Peo­ple’s Lit­er­a­ture, Boye has, with her unerr­ing insight over the past 25 years, enabled chil­dren and young peo­ple to find their own worlds, dreams, con­tra­dic­tions, and fears in her sto­ries. Over 100 of her works will be exhib­it­ed, divid­ed into sec­tions such as “Grow­ing Up in a Fam­i­ly,” “Grow­ing Up in Ham­burg,” “Grow­ing Up in Vio­lence,” “Grow­ing Up in Anoth­er World,” “Grow­ing Up Among Pirates,” and “Grow­ing Up Free.” Draw­ing on reli­able doc­u­ments and unpub­lished works, the author’s life and works will be pre­sent­ed in a com­pre­hen­sive man­ner. The exhi­bi­tion not only brings togeth­er the ear­li­est edi­tions of her works from 1985 to 2010, but also fea­tures a read­er’s cor­ner where you can enjoy engag­ing let­ters from young read­ers. All this will tell read­ers: peo­ple can grow up with the works of Kirsten Boyle!

   
Some of Kirsten Boy’s works have been trans­lat­ed into Chi­nese. A spe­cial high­light is that, just before the exhi­bi­tion, sev­en books in the Yuli series, intro­duced by Chi­na Elec­tric Pow­er Press, will be pub­lished, which is very worth look­ing for­ward to.

   
In con­junc­tion with the two exhi­bi­tions, we invit­ed Bir­git Dankert, Pro­fes­sor of Library and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ence in Ger­many and Chief Judge of the 2007 Ger­man Chil­dren’s Book Award
The pro­fes­sor gave a won­der­ful report; Nadia, one of the 13 par­tic­i­pat­ing illus­tra­tors
Bud­de her­self will also come to Bei­jing to share her cre­ative expe­ri­ence with every­one; in addi­tion to read­ing her new book Yuli series to every­one, Kirsten Boy will also hold a sign­ing event.
   
The event has also received strong sup­port from Chi­nese indus­try experts. Renowned chil­dren’s read­ing pro­mot­er A Jia, local illus­tra­tor Xiong Liang, vet­er­an chil­dren’s book plan­ner Ao De, deputy edi­tor-in-chief and trans­la­tor of New Clas­sics Cul­ture, Saruwatari Shizuko, and Wang Xing, a long­time advo­cate for Ger­man chil­dren’s books in Chi­na, will engage in engag­ing dia­logues with inter­na­tion­al experts dur­ing the exhi­bi­tion. Renowned chil­dren’s lit­er­a­ture author Pro­fes­sor Mei Zihan has been invit­ed to mod­er­ate the two-day lec­ture and sem­i­nar.

【Activ­i­ty Arrange­ments】
Ger­man Con­tem­po­rary Chil­dren’s Book Illus­tra­tion Exhi­bi­tion and Kirsten Boyle’s Works Exhi­bi­tion
Dates: April 16 to 25, 2010, 10:00–17:00 dai­ly
Loca­tion: Lob­by on the first and sec­ond floors of Build­ing 7, Cen­tral Acad­e­my of Fine Arts
Address: No. 8 Hua­jia­di South Street, Chaoyang Dis­trict, Bei­jing
 
Ger­man Con­tem­po­rary Chil­dren’s Book Illus­tra­tion Theme Series (April 16–17)
All activ­i­ties are free to attend and will be accom­pa­nied by inter­preters. Space is lim­it­ed. Please reg­is­ter with Ms. Guo.ling.guo@peking.goethe.org
 
April 16, 10:00 – 12:00, Lec­ture Hall, 1st Floor, Build­ing 7, Cen­tral Acad­e­my of Fine Arts
Theme 1: “Let Pic­tures Enter the Heart — Pro­mot­ing Chil­dren’s Read­ing through Pic­ture Books”
Speak­er: Pro­fes­sor Bir­git Dankert
 
Theme 2: “The Pro­mo­tion and Recep­tion of Ger­man Pic­ture Books in Chi­na”
Guests: Wang Xing (from the per­spec­tive of copy­right intro­duc­tion), Ao De (from the per­spec­tive of plan­ning and pro­mo­tion),
           
Saruwatari Shizuko (from the per­spec­tive of top­ic selec­tion and edi­to­r­i­al phi­los­o­phy)
Host: Mei Zihan
 
April 16, 13:30–15:00, Sino-Ger­man Expert Forum, Lec­ture Hall, 1st Floor, Build­ing 7, Cen­tral Acad­e­my of Fine Arts
Theme: “Tra­di­tion and Exper­i­men­ta­tion — Two Major Devel­op­ment Trends of Pic­ture Books: The Cur­rent Sit­u­a­tion and Prospects of Glob­al Chil­dren’s Pic­ture Books in the Mul­ti­me­dia Era”
Guests: Pro­fes­sor Bir­git Dankert, Nadia Bud­de (one of the illus­tra­tors), Xiong Liang, A Jia, Ao De
Host: Mei Zihan
 
April 17, 10:00–12:00, Cen­tral Acad­e­my of Fine Arts Build­ing 7, 1st Floor Lec­ture Hall, Kirsten Boyle’s new book “Yuli Series” pro­mo­tion meet­ing
Report: “The Road to Glo­ry: How Kirsten Boyle Achieved Suc­cess in Chil­dren’s Lit­er­a­ture,” Speak­er: Bir­git Dankert
Recita­tion: Yuli Series
Dia­logue: Mei Zihan inter­views experts includ­ing Kirsten Boyle
 
April 17, 2:30 PM — 3:30 PM, Han­fen­lou (36 Wang­fu­jing Street), Kirsten Boyle’s book sign­ing
 
For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:
Project Leader: Ms. Guo Ling, Tel: +86 10 8260 5785 – 102ling.guo@peking.goethe.org

Pub­lic Affairs: Ms. Feng Shuo, Tel: +86 10 8251 2909 – 121shuo.feng@peking.goethe.org

Web: Ms. Zhang Jinglin, Tel: +86 10 8251 2909 – 122web@peking.goethe.org