Paper Dialogues - The Dragon and Our Stories opens on 1 October 2014 at Today Art Museum. An opening ceremony is held on 5 October. Two artists from different countries represent the myths of the dragon in China and Scandinavia through in-depth stories narrated with paper, air and shadow.

Dialogue without words

Paper Dialogues is an artistic collaboration between Xiaoguang Qiao from China and Karen Bit Vejle from Scandinavia. Each of them have created a large-scale paper-cut presenting their respective culture and history. The two artists have had to overcome language and cultural barriers, and this continuous dialogue has added new and unexpected elements to the creative process.

Dragon encounter

Dragon myths exist in both the Scandinavian and Chinese cultures – but how similar are the two mythical creatures really? What are their symbolic connotations? And how will the Norse dragon communicate with the Chinese "long"? These are questions the artists have faced in their creative process.

Extraordinary paper-cuts

Both Qiao and Bit work in the rare and valuable art form of paper-cutting. Paper-cutting is an old tradition and is widespread as folk art – particularly in China. The artists amaze the viewers with large-scale works that come to life through their minds, hands and scissors. Qiao’s dragon paper-cut is a nine meter long frieze that can be viewed from both sides. Bit’s work is a forest made of dragon eggs, which the audience can walk in-between to and observe from various angles. Both artists make use of light and shadow to achieve unusual effects.

 

Exhibition tour in China and Norway

On 1 October 2014, the audience can witness the first encounter of the dragons at Beijing Today Art Museum. The exhibition will then travel to Liu Haisu Art Museum in Shanghai. In the spring and summer of 2015, it will be presented in Oslo and Trondheim, Norway.