After tours in many major cities of China and around the world since last June, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture International Tour Exhibition now is making its first stop of 2008, the year of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Summer Games, in Atlanta, GA, the political and economical hub of the south of the United States.
The exhibition will stay from January 11 to 20, 2008 with sponsor by the Beijing 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture International Tour Exhibition Committee, and hosted by the Atlanta chapter of Association of Chinese Professionals (ACP-Atlanta), one of the non-profit Chinese organizations in Atlanta.
“Olympic Games is a tie between Beijing and the world, and this exhibition is a great opportunity for better understanding of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and further cultural exchange between the two countries,” said Wenzhong Zhou, ambassador of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China.
“I hope that this tour exhibition can serve as a medium that brings American and Chinese people closer together on promoting the optimistic, positive and healthy spirit of Olympic Games.”
Also the general consul of the People’s Republic of China in Houston, Qiao Hong expressed the same wishes and she emphasized that the exhibition is a good sign for the new year and the bridge between two Olympic cities, it will strength the growing relationship between the New US South and New China in the new century.
In order to better promote the Olympic spirit and the 2008 Games world-wide, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, China Artists Association and other organizations initiated the 2008 Olympic Landscape Sculpture Designs Contest and Exhibition on August 8, 2005 as a three-year countdown celebration for the 2008 games, inviting artists around the world to submit sculpture designs depicting Olympic themes.
Among more than 2,400 entries submitted from sculptors from close to 90 countries, 290 pieces have been selected for the tour exhibition. Made from bronze, iron, aluminum, stainless steel and many other materials, each of these selected sculptures are made into three replicas in order for a simultaneous exhibition tour in dozens of cities nation-wide and abroad.
After its debut in Beijing on June 23, 2007- International Olympic Day- and the following nation-wide tour in several major cities in China, the exhibition started its international trip in London, host city of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Since then it has traveled to Athens, Seoul, Los Angeles, Rome, Tokyo, Barcelona, Sydney, Wellington, Gisborne, etc. and has received enormous response where it has extended.
