About Love & New Beginnings
The Ashmolean invites you to join them for the fourth online event in their One World Festival series, this time celebrating Chinese New Year and the theme of love on Valentine’s Day.
This event will feature poetry performed by local poets, Chinese art, a talk from an Ashmolean curator, musical performances, and a ‘fruity’ family craft activity. A full programme can be found further down this page.
Tickets
The event is free and will be broadcast live on their website, and on their YouTube channel.
Programme
Love Poetry Reading 3 mins
Spring Zhang, Deputy Director of the Confucius Institute at Oxford Brookes University will share two of her favourite Chinese poems, inspired by the theme of love.
Chinese Ink Painting Demonstration 20 mins
Distinguished artist, scholar, and poet Wang Limin from Harbin in China paints a Chinese ink painting to celebrate Chinese New Year.
Spring Songs 10 mins
Yijia Tu, Chinese singer-songwriter, ethnomusicologist, and University of Oxford MA student, performs two songs, the first inspired by last Spring’s lockdown.
Curator Talk: Koganei Musashi Province 5 mins
Clare Pollard, Curator of Japanese Art at the Ashmolean talks about this beautiful woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige which shows the beginnings of Spring.
Make a Mythical Mask 15 mins
Learn how to make a ‘Mythical Mask’ with local artist Mani from Fusion Arts, inspired by an Assyrian relief of a bird-headed spirit at the Ashmolean.
Poetry Performance 5 mins
Syrian poet Muradi Bakir performs her poetry translated from the original Arabic, which connects to themes of love and new beginnings, displacement, and home.
All of Us Love: Oxford Rumi Study Group 10 mins
The Oxford Rumi Study Group explore love and new beginnings through poetic text and three pieces of music, connecting to Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year.
Watch trailer
