Exhibition Featuring Bennington Students, Faculty Opens in Beijing
Twenty-six designs for a restaurant at the Peninsula Hotel in Beijing, developed by Bennington students, staff, and faculty, will be featured in an exhibition at the Beijing Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) at the end of this month, with a simultaneous exhibit in the Gllery at the hotel.
The artists of the winning submissions will be offered opportunity to participate in a 45 day residency program at the Peninsula Hotel.
The partnership with MoCA has been facilitated by curator Michael Soh, who organized the exhibit of Bennington's work at the Beijing museum. The show is the "the 21st edition of the vibrARTion project" according to his curatorial statement.
The show, called the Secret Garden International Art Exhibition, was also described as "a positive response to the strong demand of brilliant young artists, designers and other art learners and workers for more activities and programs that are both appropriate and influential on the collaboration of MoCA Beijing, Peninsula Beijing and Bennington College. Artistic exchange, interaction and crossover will be highlighted in this event."
The Peninsula Beijing, a luxury hotel in a culturally central location, was recently the site of the U.S.–China Higher Education Symposium. The event brought together representatives from Bennington College, Bard College, Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, and The University of California, Berkeley, as well as other influential educational leaders, from both countries for discussion about "the purpose of innovation and creativity in higher education." President Silver gave a speech at the Symposium on the purpose of a college education.