The Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften: Events

Art: »Stone Seal« by Shi-siang TEO, courtesy of the artist

Registration and participation
Participation via Zoom
For the Zoom registration link, please click here

About the lecture
In this two-hour lecture, we will commence by exploring several key aspects of calligraphy creation and clarify the pivotal role of creators within these components. As these elements establish the foundation of classical calligraphic aesthetics, our primary focus will be a thorough discussion on how contemporary artists navigate the modern creative landscape, taking into account the context, environment, language, and various methods of presenting their work, all while striving to create calligraphic lyrical works imbued with contemporary significance. In the final part of the lecture, we will also showcase practical examples to provide the audience with a deeper understanding of how meaningful modern lyrical creations can harmoniously emerge within the framework of classical calligraphic aesthetics.

About the speaker
Shi-siang TEO, born in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, holds Ph.D. in Chinese Literature from National Taiwan University. Currently an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Chinese Literature at the same university, his primary research areas include Sinophone Studies, Malaysian Chinese literature and culture, and the pedagogy and practice of calligraphy. In 2008, Teo established a personal studio dedicated to calligraphy projects and artistic creations, and he has organized three individual calligraphy and seal engraving exhibitions in Taipei under the theme »The Trilogy of Drifting.«

About the lecture series
In recent years, literary and cultural works that evoke the cultural memories of classical Chinese traditions are gaining popularity in the global Sinitic-languages space and cyberspace. From literary to visual culture, from pop music to fashion, from state policies to daily rituals, these classicist articulations present Chineseness as complicated, multifaceted, multilingual, and cross-cultural. They raise important questions on the relevance of Chinese traditions today to China, to global Chinese communities, and to a future of »world literature«—as Goethe envisioned it nearly two centuries ago. In this multiannual lecture series, prominent scholars, writers, and artists will present fascinating case studies from their research or draw upon their aesthetic practices to elaborate on their understanding on these important questions. Such investigations demonstrate the abundant aesthetic and intellectual resources that the vast repertoire of Chinese cultural memories may provide to engage in a dialogue on the present and future of a global culture.

Concept of the lecture series: Zhiyi Yang, Professor of Sinology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main and Goethe Fellow at the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften