The First Austria and China’s Artistic Exchange Project Successfully Closed 13-12-2009

To promote cultural exchange between Austria and China， and to expand artists’creative space，Austria’s Ministry of Culture，Arts and Education initiated Austria/China Artist Exchange Studio Project. Endorsed by Cultural Exchange Association of Austria and China， STA is committed to this program to exchange two artists with Austria every year for three month.

In October 2009，Austria sent two artists， Harald Gsaller and Elisabeth Gruebl， to STA. Harald is a famous writer （essays）， a visual artist （photography and graphic images）， as well as an educator. He has published a few books， and writes for art and literary magazines. Elisabeth is a sculptor，graduated from the Vienna Academy of Fine Art，her major works include： sculpture， indoor and outdoor installation art， video and sound works， laser works， computer animation， interactive installation art and photography.

While in Shanghai， Harald and Elisabeth walked around every street around STA and reveled in the strong cultural atmosphere here. Their cameras captured all kinds of charm of Shanghai: elderly people doing Taichi in Jing An Park， creative artists at Mo Gan Shan Road， Lane No. 50， diligent students training on campus， and ancient collections in the museums. In Addition， they went to the ancient capital Xi An， with STA’s international students. Though they were caught in heavy snow for a day， it could not undermine the feeling and enlightenment that Xi An gave them. Harald was often so attracted to the ancient stones he could not move away from them.

After watching Mongolian students’ class， Harald was very interested in STA’s education paradigm for minority talents. Endorsed by the Acting Department， he particularly took a lot of photos for these students. As a sculptor， Elisabeth specialises in installation art， one of her works is to place all her furniture and items into a cubic shape to manifest the relationship between people and space. With no exception， the way she turned our Lounge into a piece of art work was amazing.

Three months passed， the Austrian artists had to leave. On one hand， they were looking forward to the family reunion for Christmas. On the other hand， they wished the time in Shanghai could be longer.  STA president Han Sheng went to their apartment to say farewell， and expressed his wish to make this project as a beginning of exchange programs between Austria and China. He hoped STA will attract more and more artists around the world to learn about China，Shanghai and STA.