On November 3, New Star Art’s first specialized art zone will be established in Chengdu. Recently, New Star Art has released its first artist residence program “Art Chengxiang, Open Call for New Residents”.

Ten years ago, the first New Star Art Festival was held in Chengdu, marking the birth of the festival and ten years later, the establishment of the specialized art zone in Chengdu renews its relation with the city.

Over the past ten years, the New Star Art Festival has been devoted to showing the true if the artistic ecology amid current commercial with young and independent artists’ enthusiastic approach. The festival believes that art should communicate with real life at a broad level instead of restricting itself to small and closed elite circle and art should be allowed to make free expressions that will reach the heart instead of cliché. Respect should be given priority over pricing when it comes to capital and art.

The return of New Star Art to Chengdu is a new experiment that includes art into city renewal. The program will be part of the artistic renewal project of the Cheng Xiang, a renowned historical and cultural town in Sichuan province.

The old town of Cheng Xiang is located in the north east of Chengdu and only 15 km away from the urban area of Chengdu. The ancient town, boasting a history of more than 1000 years, has a similar layout as ancient Chengdu and is embellished with historical and cultural heritage and therefore nicknamed as “small version of Chengdu”.

The program will inject art as the renewal gene into the redevelopment of the ancient town at the very beginning and aims to create a novel artistic way of life with Chengxiang’s own distinctive features and connect artistic elements with local elements to an artistic arena without border.

New Star Artistic Chengxiang is not simply a specific art space or an art festival, but aims to industrialize the local art. In 2020, Mrs. Li Anqi, the director of New Star Art, launched the New Star Art Chengxiang program and invited Mr. Lan Qingwei, a famous exhibition curator, to join the program as art director. The program has been in the full swing in the second half of 2020. A host of art institutions or studios including New Star Contemporary Art Center, the art new resident project—Cangxin Art Studio, UP-ON International Art Space. Events and activities including the New Star Art Award, the UP-ON International Live Art Festival, the artist residence program “Art Chengxiang, Open Call for New Residents” and the Workshop for Woodcut Print Art in Southwest” will also be held to activate the ancient town of Chengxiang.