Academic Journal of Art and Design (AJAD) is an international, peer-reviewed journal. The mission of the journal is to provide an academic platform for scholars and practitioners to discuss the issues of art, design, and culture across the world. All articles published are rigorously and fast reviewed meeting the Journal Quality standards.
The Generation and Cultural Expression of Media Cultural Symbols in the Field of Mass Communication
At present, mass media are the first platforms that society uses to create, spread and communicate its thoughts and ideas. This paper will explore the reasons for the creation and spread of media cultural symbols in contemporary times. Based on semiotics and cultural studies, this paper investigates how media platforms express deep-seated values of society through easy-to-understand visual and textual signs. Examine how the logic of media and the political economy of symbols shape things, and show that these symbols are not produced in a vacuum. Research will also be conducted on how media culture represents contemporary identities, what dominant discourses it produces, and how these affect public consciousness in the age of heavy mediatisation. Mapping the Transition from the old model of broadcasting to an interactive digital convergence, this paper studies changes in institutional producers and active audiences over time. In short, it believes that to understand the underlying ideas and values of the whole society today, we need to be able to interpret symbols in the media critically.
Mass Communication; Media Cultural Symbols; Cultural Expression; Semiotics; Mediatization; Convergence Culture.
Copyright (c) 2026 Academic Journal of Art and Design https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0
Character Realization in Realistic Acting: Pathways to Characterization within the Stanislavski Tradition
Creating real and soft characters is an extremely difficult problem for artists of the realistic performance tradition. However, how actors actually achieve characterization has not always been given full attention in either academia or actor training. The paper studies how characterisation in the realistic acting tradition has developed. Stanislavski first established a system in his works, and many others followed with different applications, including Strasberg, Chekhov, Meisner, Adler, and Hagen. It also positions these methods in the current view of cognition, embodiment and psychophysical actor training. By studying practitioner texts and historical studies of pedagogy, as well as current theoretical research, the four main paths to realistic characterisation can be presented in this paper: imaginative inhabitation of given circumstances, development of internal and external character resources, physical and vocal embodiment and relational construction through rehearsal. Qualitative literature-based methods are employed to compare the above techniques and develop a practical framework for performers and teachers. The study believes that authentic characterization cannot be reduced to the interior world of a person; rather, a good performance is the outcome of interacting with imagination, body, voice, action, relationships, etc.
Realistic acting; characterization; Stanislavski system; emotional memory; physical characterization; rehearsal process; performance pedagogy.
British Art Song Composition, Performance, and Pedagogy and the Articulation of National Identity in Early Twentieth Century England
English song in the early 1900s was tightly associated with notions of Britishness in the wider context of the development of British art song. The paper, focusing on Ralph Vaughan Williams' On Wenlock Edge, explores the parts played by poetry, landscape, folk influence, modal writing and chamber texture in the creation of a musical language which was part of Englishness. It also focuses on the role of the singers and teachers, in terms of their emphasis on diction, speech rhythm, textual clarity and controlled expression. These techniques contributed to the development of an identifiable style of English singing and the dissemination of the repertoire via teaching, concert performance, festivals and commemorative events. English art song also was related to memory, continuity and national renewal in the years around the First World War. Composition, performance and pedagogy were thus not isolated domains but are interdependent practices which contributed to the development of English art song as a musical tradition and as a form of cultural expression.
English Art Song; National Identity; Ralph Vaughan Williams; On Wenlock Edge; Music Pedagogy; Performance Practice.
Thoughts on the Application of Sui and Tang Buddhist Intangible Heritage Aesthetic Elements in Modern Art Teaching
The Sui and Tang Dynasties are two great achievements of classical Asian art, especially in the field of Buddhist cultural heritage. The characteristics of the aesthetics in this period include soft-edged linear brushstrokes, bright mineral colours and deep sculptural grace, and they have accumulated rich artistic and historical connotations. Research is being conducted on the use of aesthetic elements in Sui and Tang Buddhist intangible cultural heritage for contemporary art teaching. Critique of the current excessive reliance on rigid Western academic paradigms and a proposal to systematically integrate indigenous visual culture into the curriculum. Based on the analysis of the historical and aesthetic features of these works, it is believed that they will help students develop their minds and sense of culture. In addition, the paper puts forward some feasible teaching measures, such as tactile exploration of traditional mineral materials, analysis and copying of mural compositions, and contemporary digital reinterpretation of classical patterns. Finally, the combination will promote the inheritance of intangible cultural heritage and cultivate all-round, culturally rich modern art education.
Sui and Tang Dynasties; Buddhist Art; Intangible Cultural Heritage; Aesthetic Elements; Modern Art Teaching; Visual Pedagogy.
The Effects of AI-Assisted Dance Learning on Embodied Awareness and Creative Self-Efficacy
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in dance education has begun to change the teaching, practice and absorption of human movement in a new way. This paper investigates the two sides of AI-assisted dance classes on students' sense of embodiment and creative self-efficacy. Integrate phenomenological frameworks of the moving body with Bandura's social cognitive theory to explore how AI-driven computer vision and real-time pose estimation technologies alter dancers' sense of proprioception. Research on the shift from older mirror-based externalisation to new algorithmic systems for self-monitoring has been conducted. Although AI feedback has improved the precision of kinematics, it may also harm the all-encompassing phenomenology of the 'lived body' if not used in teaching thoughtfully. In addition, the paper also studies how adaptive, confidence-weighted AI feedback loops affect creative self-efficacy, that is, individuals' sense of their own ability to create new works of art. Based on the above results, AI should be used as a cooperative learning partner rather than an inflexible test-taker to improve both the accuracy of movement and the self-confidence needed for creative exploration. Finally, this paper proposes a human-AI cooperative model for dance education that combines the accuracy of algorithms with the expressiveness of human art.
Artificial Intelligence; Dance Education; Embodied Awareness; Creative Self-Efficacy; Pose Estimation; Phenomenology.
Research on the Practice of Design Thinking in Fashion Design Empowered by Wearable Technology
How wearable technology is changing the application of design thinking in fashion design: an exploratory study. Rather than viewing wearable technology as an addition to clothing, this paper believes that it is changing the very logic of fashion design by putting forward new requirements for interaction, data responsiveness, material integration and cross-disciplinary cooperation. Based on research in design thinking, wearable technology, smart clothing and fashion innovation, this essay explores how human-centred inquiry, prototyping, systems thinking and iterative testing are applied to interactive products for clothing. It further presents eight practical paths for wearable technology to promote fashion design, including building user-centric scenarios and material-technology co-design, as well as cross-disciplinary cooperation and post-use reflection. This paper proposes that the applications of wearable technology in fashion design aim to offer new designs and different visual styles, as well as to provide functions, embodied interactions, and extended-life user experiences.
Wearable technology; fashion design; design thinking; smart clothing; interactive garments; user-centered design.
From Representation to Non-Objective Art: Spiritual Language in Kandinsky's Composition Series
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was an early figure in non-objective art in the early 20th century who believed that painting should convey spiritual and emotional connotations rather than represent external objects. This paper studies the development of his philosophy of abstraction and how he attempted to convey spiritual ideas in terms of pure form and colour. In the Composition series (1910–1913), it is proposed that these works show how abstraction became a spiritual language and that Kandinsky believed painting could move away from the material world to create a multi-sensory experience inspired by music. Based on his own theoretical writings and other representative art-historical research, this study first lays a theoretical and biographical foundation for Kandinsky's years in Munich, his study of Theosophy, and his participation in the Blue Rider circle. Then, in order, it studies the Composition series and traces the development of his work from partially figurative paintings with apocalyptic and religious symbolism to fully non-objective abstraction in Composition VII. In the context of other modern art, Kandinsky systematically broke down representation and thus altered the aim of painting to explore profound, spiritual worlds; this became a new mode for apprehending reality in art.
Wassily Kandinsky, abstraction, non-objective art, spirituality, synesthesia.
The Concept of "Harmony" in Chinese and Western Art Aesthetics: A Case Study of Choral Sound Aesthetics
"Harmony" serves as a fundamental aesthetic category in both Chinese and Western art; however, it manifests distinct characteristics due to cultural differences. In traditional Chinese aesthetics, "harmony" is rooted in philosophical concepts such as "the unity of heaven and man" and "the harmony of rites and music," emphasizing a holistic integration. Conversely, in traditional Western aesthetics, "harmony" arises from aesthetic principles centered on "proportion of numbers" and "moderation," seeking formal harmony through orderly arrangements. This paper employs literature review and case analysis to elucidate the connotations and developmental trajectories of the aesthetic concept of "harmony" in both China and the West. Focusing on the aesthetics of choral sound, it investigates the intrinsic relationships among core elements of choral aesthetics, including part harmony, timbre fusion, and emotional resonance, in relation to the concept of "harmony" across these cultures. Additionally, by examining classic examples such as ancient Chinese court music, religious choral works from the Western Renaissance, and contemporary choral compositions that blend Chinese and Western elements, this paper assesses the guiding significance of the "harmony" aesthetic in choral conducting techniques and interpretation within diverse cultural contexts.
Chinese and Western Art Aesthetics; Chorus; Harmony.
The Discourse Shift from Curatorial Arguments to Brand Narratives
Determine if, after transitioning from art sponsorship to exhibition production, the curatorial discourse in brand museums has shifted from a curation-centric mode to a branding-led narrative system. Museum branding and brand museums are not the same phenomenon; therefore, this study focuses on brand-founded exhibition spaces that have become cultural agents for a commercial brand. According to Paul O'Neill's idea of the curatorial turn, the paper defines curatorial argument as the body of knowledge claims that can be produced through selection, organisation and space in an exhibition, and exhibition narrative is regarded as a way to present such a claim to the audience. WAVES at Casa Sanlorenzo in Venice and Sueño Perro at Fondazione Prada in Milan will be selected as the subjects for a comparative case study. Based on the above analysis, WAVES generally creates an aesthetically pleasing environment in line with the luxury concept of identity, whereas Sueño Perro shows stronger characteristics of archival and media specificity. The paper does not think that brand narrative will automatically substitute for a curatorial argument; instead, it demonstrates that when aesthetic unity is emphasized over critical propositions, brand narrative may stand out.
Brand museum; curatorial argument; exhibition narrative; luxury brand; Casa Sanlorenzo; Fondazione Prada; Paul O'Neill.
Emotional Labor and Interpersonal Connection in the Creation of Contemporary Relational Art
This article looks closely at the emotional labor artists put into contemporary relational art. Since relational aesthetics emerged, art has stopped being just something people view — it’s become a space for people to meet and connect. Yet few discussions address the emotional toll artists take on to make this happen. This article uses the concept of emotional labor proposed by Hochschild to analyze four representative practices: Rirkrit Tiravanija's gallery cooking project, Hu Yinping's town weaving collaboration with local women, Koki Tanaka's stranger collaboration experiments, and Song Dong's family memory presentations. Drawing on Olive Network's research on social practice artists and close readings of individual works, we map what emotional labor does in relational art. Emotional labor is both the backbone of relational art and a heavy, often unsustainable practical burden for creators. Artists are no longer just producing objects, but also investing a lot of energy to maintain connections between people. This creative approach breaks the boundary between art and life, and provides an aesthetic answer to how to rebuild trust between people in today's society.
Relational Aesthetics; Emotional Labor; Interpersonal Connections; Participatory Art; Social Practice Art.
A Study on the Transformation of Co-curation Mechanisms in the Digital Era: Taking Technology as the Driving Force
Profound impacts of digitalization have brought fundamental changes to curation in terms of knowledge production, organizational structure and power dynamics. The one-way discourse dominated by curators and cultural institutions in traditional curation has gradually faded away. The involvement of public participants and the intervention of technological platforms and social networks endow contemporary curatorial practices with prominent digital features, collaborative attributes and openness. This study focuses on co-curation mechanisms in the intelligent era. It first reviews the historical trajectory and theoretical framework of digital curation and explores the challenges confronting traditional curation mechanisms in the digital context. From the perspective of social innovation, this paper further analyzes the organizational models of digital sharing-based curation from three core dimensions: system openness, knowledge sharing and self-organization. Additionally, curatorial practices are examined across three hierarchical levels of citizen co-creation, community co-creation and urban co-creation, with an analysis of organizational forms and participation mechanisms at micro and macro scales. This research aims to establish a feasible methodological framework and theoretical foundation for curatorial practices featuring sharing, co-creation, joint construction and collaborative governance in the digital era, thus facilitating the development of innovative curatorial models and expanding development prospects for future curation.
Digital sharing-based curation; co-curation mechanism; knowledge sharing; self-organization.
Beyond Public Curiosity: Necessity, Proportionality and Foreseeable Harm in Celebrity Privacy Reporting
This article mainly discusses how media reporting should balance the protection of celebrities' privacy rights and the genuine public interest in cases involving personal privacy information and public curiosity. The article holds that the celebrity status may reduce the privacy expectations in truly relevant public interest matters, but this does not justify unrestricted intrusion into private life. The article studies and references several cases such as Campbell v MGN, Von Hannover v Germany, Murray v Express Newspaper,etc.,distinguishes public interests from public curiosity, and advocates that every privacy detail of every celebrity in news reporting must have an independent, justifiable, and in line with public interests reason. Additionally, the article points out that images, medical information, and news related to family require more rigorous review because they may exacerbate the public humiliation of celebrities, cause excessive attention, and cause long-term harm. The article proposes an editorial framework based on the principle of proportionality, which focuses on the true public interest, incremental necessity, the least intrusive means, and foreseeable harm, aiming to protect democratic news reporting while preventing celebrity privacy from becoming a commodity for public consumption.
Celebrity privacy, Public interest, Press freedom, Proportionality, Media ethics.
Research on Psychological Motivation of Social Aesthetics and Group Norms Guiding Sustainable Apparel Consumption Choices
The textile industry is advancing green transformation across the board, and sustainable apparel has stepped out of niche markets and gained public popularity. Consumer behavior is shaped by external economic factors and consumers’ inner psychology. Based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, this paper analyzes the internal psychological mechanisms of social aesthetics and group norms affecting sustainable clothing consumption. The sustainable fashion sector in China maintains sound development. In the consumption scenario, the aesthetic orientation of the public and the behavioral norms of social communities have become important factors affecting clothing purchase decisions. These two sets of norms jointly govern consumers’ purchasing behavior. Identity expression, environmental moral cognition and social value perception together form a psychological link between external factors and individual consumption. This paper clarifies the working mechanisms of the above two factors, and the conclusions offer practical guidance for sustainable apparel brand design and community management. This study does not carry out cross-sectional analysis based on social identity theory. Further empirical research is needed to verify the mediating and moderating effects of these psychological variables.
Sustainable apparel consumption; social aesthetics; group norms; psychological motivation; social identity.
Research on the Shaping of Mezzo-soprano Trouser Roles in Mozart Opera Works
Mozart used vocal writing, characterisation, dramatic function and gendered stage conventions in these operas to create special mezzo-soprano trouser roles. Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro, Sesto in La clemenza di Tito, Idamante in Idomeneo and Annio in La clemenza di Tito are selected as typical cases of travesti casting in Mozart's operas for this study. Research has found that Mozart did not treat these roles as interchangeable male characters for women to sing; instead, he adapted each role according to the requirements of the play and changed vocal ranges and emotional expressions, etc. Historical research on trouser roles, Mozart's own studies, and the practices of opera performances all indicate that Mozart frequently employed various vocal types to depict different characters. Therefore, the mezzo-soprano trouser roles in Mozart's works are necessary to study how opera uses gender, colour and theatre to tell stories.
Mozart; mezzo-soprano; trouser roles; travesti; Cherubino; Sesto.
Pathways for Integrating Music Psychology into Music Education
Music psychology offers theoretical support for the improvement of music education by integrating concepts of learning, motivation, emotion, cognition and performance. This paper studies the main paths for effectively applying music psychology in actual music education. The three general places where the integration will be realised are curriculum design, teaching methods and all-round student support. Music psychology can be used to determine appropriate goals for teaching, conduct assessments, and select relevant musical works more intelligently. In addition, the internal motivation, self-efficacy, emotional regulation and reflective practice of students in the classroom can also be strengthened. Strengthen the psychological support system at all levels of the institution to help teachers prepare for the high-stress environment of work more effectively, reduce occupational stress, and promote the construction of a high-inclusion classroom. Based on the synthesis of recent systematic reviews and educational studies, this paper holds that music psychology should not be treated as a theoretical and detached subject of study. Instead, it should be viewed as a basic system to actively promote an all-encompassing, compassionate and age-appropriate way of teaching music in all areas of education.
Music psychology; music education; self-efficacy; motivation; curriculum design; reflective teaching.
Presentation of Material Perception and Natural Environmental Memory in Installation Art with Technology Intervention
Installation art with technology intervention is used to present material perception and natural environmental memory through space composition, sensory interaction and embodied viewing in this paper. Based on the above research, technology can create a digital effect for installation art; at the same time, it has also altered our perception and memory of materials, light, sound, and fragments of landscape. Based on recent studies of installation art and the body, memory-oriented practice-as-research, and ecological installation work, it can be shown that embodied viewers construct meaning through tactile, visual, and proprioceptive experiences. Technology and the medium of digital memory can also be used to preserve the traces of space, stimulate sensory perception, create an immersive environment for remembrance. Therefore, it is more suitable for technology-enhanced installation art to support, rather than substitute for, the physical presence of materials and the specificity of environments.
Installation art; technology intervention; material perception; environmental memory; embodiment; immersive art.
Reimagining Macbeth Through Immersive Storytelling: Audience Autonomy, Embodied Spectatorship, and Accessibility in Sleep No More
In Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More (SNM), audiences wander through dark hallways, chase performers across different floors, and assemble individualized interpretations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth through bodily participation and immersive engagement. Rather than positioning spectators as passive observers, the production promises audiences a high degree of autonomy and agency to physically navigate the performance environment and construct individualized interpretations of the narrative. However, this paper argues that immersive theatre presents a paradoxical form of audience autonomy. By examining collective environments, embodied spectatorship, and spatial limitations in both the New York and Shanghai productions, this study suggests that audience autonomy within immersive theatre is relational and interdependent, emerging not through isolated individual choice but through ongoing interactions shaped by collective movement, bodily engagement, and spatial conditions.
Sleep No More; immersive theatre; Macbeth; audience autonomy; embodiment; accessibility.
Materiality and Cultural Identity in Chinese Mixed-Media Painting after Western Neo-Expressionism
This paper explores how Chinese mixed-media painting developed materiality as a means of constructing cultural identity after the influence of Western Neo-Expressionism. While artists such as Anselm Kiefer demonstrated how materials could convey history, memory, and trauma, Chinese artists transformed this approach within their own cultural context. Materials including ink, xuan paper, mineral pigments, soil, ash, fabric, and industrial debris became more than technical tools or visual effects. Through layering, burning, cutting, and recontextualization, they express cultural memory, regional experience, modernization, and social change. The paper argues that Chinese mixed-media painting shifted from “material as technique” to “material as meaning,” forming a local visual language that connects tradition, modernity, and contemporary Chinese identity. It also warns against formal imitation, technical display, and superficial cultural labeling.
Chinese mixed-media painting; materiality; cultural identity; cultural memory.
Spatial Narrative and Experience Expression of Contemporary Art Exhibitions under the Parasitism Concept
Based on Michel Serres's philosophy of parasitism and the current development of contemporary art exhibitions, this article explores the deep mechanism of integrating parasitism concepts into exhibition space creation and narrative construction, and analyzes the interdependent and symbiotic relationships between art fields, work carriers, and public spaces, offering practical approaches for contemporary curatorial innovation and public art intervention. The article combines theoretical tracing and empirical analysis, selecting the traditional white cube exhibition mode, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), Hong Kong Para Site Art Space, and UCCA Art Project as typical samples, and conducting discussions from five dimensions: theoretical tracing, spatial attachment, institutional intervention, cultural symbiosis, and experiential reshaping. This study finds that the parasitism concept can break the spatial constraints of traditional exhibition models, reconstruct narrative expression logic, and encourage audiences to shift from passive viewing to immersive on-site experiences. This article summarizes the practical value and existing limitations of parasitic narrative, clarifies the balance criteria of art exhibitions in space utilization, narrative construction, and public experience, and opens up a new path for integrating art space into urban life scenes.
The Artistic Connotation and Expression Logic of Choreography Creation from the Perspective of Body Narrative
Choreography as a creative practice that produces meaning through the ordering of bodily movement in time and place is a different sort of story whose logic of expression cannot be adequately theorised within the frames worked out for language or literary narrative. This study addresses the logic of creative expression and the creative connotation of dance production from the perspective of body narrative. The choreographic body is not only a narrative subject, but also a narrative medium and a narrative text. This paper analyses four dimensions of body narrative in choreography, drawing on Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body, Mark Johnson's theory of embodied meaning and image schemata and Susan Leigh Foster's semiotics of choreographic representation. The pre-reflective kinaesthetic dimension, the image-schematic dimension, the compositional-structural dimension and the inter-corporeal dimension of performer-audience kinaesthetic empathy. In this paper I explore the logics of expression specific to the choreographic practice that choreographers employ to construct narratives that cannot be translated into verbal or visual equivalents. I analyse the Tanztheater of Pina Bausch and the deconstructive choreographic practice of William Forsythe, embodied metaphor, temporal folding, corporeal counterpoint, and spatial dramaturgy. The study then goes on to situate these logics of expression within the broader theoretical dilemma of how to account for non-verbal art-making as a legitimate and culturally distinctive mode of telling tales about the world.
How Interactive Teaching Promotes Student Self-Development
As a student-centred teaching paradigm, interactive teaching is receiving increasing attention in higher education. Drawing on constructivist learning theory, this paper systematically explores the underlying mechanisms through which interactive teaching promotes student self-development. Research indicates that interactive teaching can effectively enhance students’ metacognitive abilities, awareness of autonomous learning, and self-efficacy through pathways such as creating dialogic contexts, stimulating cognitive conflict, and facilitating meaning negotiation. The paper further analyses the differentiated roles of three fundamental forms of interaction—teacher-student, student-student, and human-environment—in student self-development, and proposes strategic recommendations for optimising the design of interactive teaching.
Digital Dissemination Pathways of Thangka: Tradition, Technology, and Transcultural Communication
Thangka, a sacred form of Tibetan Buddhist scroll painting, represents one of the most visually complex and culturally rich artistic traditions in the world. As digital technologies permeate every domain of cultural production and circulation, Thangka faces both unprecedented opportunities for global dissemination and critical risks of cultural decontextualization. This paper investigates the digital dissemination pathways of Thangka through a mixed theoretical lens drawing on Appadurai's theory of cultural flows, Jenkins's transmedia logic, and Castells's network communication model. Drawing on documentary analysis, platform observation, and existing practitioner accounts, the study maps four primary pathways: institutional digitization and archival platforms, short-video and social media ecosystems, immersive technology applications (AR/VR/3D scanning), and transnational e-commerce and cultural brand channels. Findings reveal that while digital dissemination significantly extends Thangka's reach and visibility, it simultaneously introduces tensions between authenticity and commodification, between ritual function and aesthetic consumption, and between local custodianship and global audience expectations. The paper proposes a culturally responsive digital strategy framework — the TACT Model (Transmission, Authenticity, Community, Technology) — to guide sustainable digital practices for intangible cultural heritage. These findings carry implications for heritage preservation policy, digital humanities pedagogy, and cross-cultural communication theory.
From Composition to Production: How Digital Audio Reshapes the Music-Making Workflow
Digitalisation of music production tools has completely reorganised the process for developing musical ideas, recording them, arranging them and delivering them to audiences from a traditional reliance on specialised facilities, professionals as intermediaries and large sums of capital, to an individual creator engaging in such activities within their own domestic space using consumer-grade devices. Examine how digital audio technology, primarily digital audio workstations (DAWs), MIDI-based virtual instrumentations, and AI-assisted mixing and mastering software/tools have changed the music-creation process from creation to production by referring to the materialist technological paradigm, creative labour theories, and recording-as-composition viewpoint as the basic theoretical support for this study. Three intertwined arguments are presented below: Digital tools did not merely speed up existing work procedures but reshaped the cognitive and creative activities by means of which music was produced and performed; The mass media's prevailing portrayal of digital music production as a democratic process conceals substantial continuity concerning who gets access to such works and on what basis; And the incorporation of AI-assisted production tools and Streaming Platform technical standards into the production process has become a new stage of Algorithmic control over Musical decisions whose impact on Creative Independence remains unexplored. Based on this, several recommendations for music Industry governance, creative labour policy and the Future development of musical Craft are put forward in this conclusion section.
Exploration of Expressionist Expression in Avant-Garde Multimedia Art in Contemporary Art Creation
Expressionism, as an aesthetic logic privileging the externalisation of inner emotional states over the mimetic representation of external reality, has undergone a significant transformation in contemporary art, migrating from its historical origins in early twentieth-century German painting to become a transhistorical principle animating avant-garde multimedia practices in installation art, video art, performance and digital immersion. The argument of this paper is that the fusion of expressionist logic and multimedia intermediality is one of the defining aesthetic formations of contemporary avant-garde art production, allowing artists to simultaneously engage many sensory registers in the interests of emotive intensity. The paper draws on Worringer’s theory of the abstraction impulse, Bürger’s theory of the avant-garde, Foster’s return-of-the-real model, Higgins’s intermedia concept, and Massumi’s affect theory to examine three case studies—Bill Viola’s transcendental video art, Anselm Kiefer’s neo-expressionist multimedia installations, and teamLab’s immersive digital environments—as paradigmatic examples of this aesthetic formation, elucidating the particular modalities by which multimedia intermediality amplifies and enriches expressionist expression in contemporary artistic practice.
The Illusion of Inclusivity: Exclusionary Mechanisms and the Dilemma of Public Participation in Relational Aesthetics
The principle behind Relational Aesthetics is the social connectivity to generate artistic significance and proposes an open participatory model as art, interactive in nature to fill up the divide between the conventional art and the ordinary spectators. But in actual practice most of these artistic efforts are not genuinely inclusive. Rather, there would be some discreet and multi-layered obstacles which can prevent authentic involvement of people. This article relies on both theoretical frameworks presented by Nicolas Bourriaud and Claire Bishop and has its empirical basis on the examples that took place within the Tate Modern and the Shanghai Biennale and used it as the support of the research. Cultural capital differences, spatial imbalancing of powers, restrictive participation clauses, monopoly of aesthetic discourse, infiltration of market logic, and all other factors combine into a hidden exclusionary mechanism that leaves the population as a whole in a passive and powerless position when participating in an art event. This paper addresses these dilemmas by analyzing the practical flaws of contemporary participatory art, aiming to uncover the surface of empty inclusiveness and offer practical paths for constructing a fair and inclusive public art participation framework.
Exploration of Interventional Pathways and Mechanisms of Music Therapy in Psychological Trauma Rehabilitation
Psychological trauma can induce dual impairments of individuals’ neurophysiological and psychological functions, leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and various emotional disorders, which has become a pressing concern to be addressed in the field of public mental health. Music therapy is a non-pharmacological psychological intervention approach, with the characteristics of non-verbal communication and emotional empathy, and exhibits unique application advantages in the rehabilitation of psychological trauma. This study integrates the findings of neuroscience research with clinical consensus, summarizes the interventional pathways of music therapy for psychological trauma, and analyzes the internal mechanisms underlying its effects on trauma-related neural circuits and psychological processes. Clinical application results indicate that music therapy can alleviate various trauma-induced physical and mental distress by regulating the autonomic nervous system (ANS), facilitating the reconstruction of traumatic memories, and enhancing the ability of emotional regulation, thereby helping individuals gradually restore their psychological and social functions. This study is based on clinical application scenarios to clarify the practical pathways and intrinsic mechanisms of music therapy, so as to provide a reference for the integration of this therapy into routine interventional programs for trauma rehabilitation, and further advance the diversified development of psychological interventions for trauma.
Research on the Application of Dragon Boat Festival Culture in Baijiu Packaging Design from the Perspective of Design Semiotics
This study explores the application of Dragon Boat Festival cultural elements in Baijiu packaging design, aiming to inherit the excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation. Taking the Dragon Boat Festival culture in traditional culture as the research object, this study conducts an in-depth analysis from the four dimensions of design semiotics: semantics, syntax, pragmatics, and context. It extracts and converts its cultural element design symbols, analyzes the correlation between cultural connotation, form characteristics, and visual design, and ultimately completes the Baijiu packaging design scheme for the Dragon Boat Festival culture. Transforming Dragon Boat Festival elements into the design language of Baijiu packaging can enhance consumers' cognition and identification with traditional culture, promoting the inheritance and innovation of traditional culture.
From Scroll to Screen: Visual Culture and the Narrative Turn in East Asian Art
The article is the discussion on the shift of the East Asian traditional art in the media (from scroll to screens) and the narrative turn of the East Asian art during the changing of the visual culture. It is an analysis of the temporal and spatial nature of scroll art in conjunction with the digital activity of the Palace Museum and the Dunhuang Academy to discuss and evaluate the impact of screen media on the narrative structure, channel of dissemination, and audience reception of art. Research has shown that media changes have driven traditional art narratives to shift from linear time series to multidimensional spatiotemporal presentation, and appreciation modes have shifted from niche appreciation among elite circles to mass immersive experiences. Static image-based interpretation has gradually shifted to dynamic and interactive narratives. In the digital communication environment, contemporary innovation of traditional art should adhere to the cultural core and optimize narrative expression through digital technology. This study offers insights for the digital inheritance and innovative development of East Asian art, helping integrate traditional artistic spirit with modern media forms.
The Musical Narrative and Emotional Expression in Fanny Mendelssohn’s Piano Suite ‘Das Jahr’
Fanny Mendelssohn’s piano suite *Das Jahr* (The Year) employs the twelve months as its structural framework, presenting a distinct temporal logic and holistic conception. Building upon an examination of the work’s compositional background, this article focuses on analysing how it constructs a continuous temporal narrative through tonal organisation, shifts in form and the interplay of musical motifs. It further explores how the work embodies the unique aesthetic orientation and expressive style of a female composer, thereby deepening our understanding of the piece.