Report to IASSRT committee (2019.9-2021.11)
1. Review of 2019-2020
1.1 Review of IASSRT work during 2019-2020
1.1.1 Organized the 4th IASSRT symposium “Textiles as a historical source”
Held by: Nasledie Institute, Scientific Research Institute of Archeology and Ancient History of the North Caucasus and China National Silk Museum (NSM)
Duration: September 22 - 30, 2019
Venue: Kislovodsk, Russia
The 4th symposium as well as the 5th IASSRT board meeting were successfully held in Russia, while mainly in Kislovodsk. The symposium was hosted by IASSRT, co-organized by Nasledie Institute, Scientific Research Institute of Archeology and Ancient History of the North Caucasus, and China National Silk Museum, assisted by State Hermitage Museum, and supported by Ministry of Culture of the Karachay-Cherkessk Republic, Kislovodsk Local History Museum "Fortress", National Museum of the Republic of Adygea, The State Karachay-Cherkess Historical-Cultural and Natural Museum-Reserve, and Astrophysical Observatory of The Russian Academy of Sciences. More than 60 scholars and representatives from more than 18 countries, including China, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Hungary, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Russia, Israel, the United States, Canada, Korea, Japan, India, Thailand, attended the symposium. While 38 expects and scholars made speeches.
In the two-day-long symposium, scholars presented new research results on the theme of “Textiles as a historical source” in seven sections. The chief focus of the discussion was the consilience in approach to understanding textiles in the historical context covering topics such as economic and technological development, trade links, diplomatic and political relations, social structure, textiles production and manufacturing, mythology, cosmology and decorative arts, etc. on the territories of the Silk Road (including Oasis and Desert Silk Road, Steppe Silk Road, and Maritime Silk Road).
The symposium provided to a diversified platform for academic exchange. During the study tour, the attendees visited State Hermitage Museum, the State Karachay-Cherkess Historical-Cultural and Natural Museum-Reserve, Zelenchuksky District Local History Museum, Lower Arkhyz Historical-Architectural and Archaeological Complex, Khasout Valley, State Historical Museum, and so forth. They joined in master classes for Technique Caucasian Gold Embroidery and Mountain Traditional Costume through the Ages.
Meanwhile, the 5th annual IASSRT board meeting took place too, the President Dr. Feng Zhao introduced the work done by the league since its 2018 annual conference and main work in 2019. Representatives from 12 alliance agencies and invited individual members spoke respectively to explore the work of the alliance and its future direction. At the end, the meeting reached several consensus, such as the 5th IASSRT symposium will be held in Italy in 2020. Elisa of the Centro Martino Martini, gave a brief introduction of the work of next year. Overall, this council meeting demonstrates that IASSRT is a dynamic and sustainable academic alliance, which will play an important role in One Belt And One Road's cultural cooperation in the future.
1.1.2 Prepared the 5th IASSRT symposium, held 2020 in Italy (with Trento)
Held by: Martino Martini Center, Center for International Culture and Art Studies of Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University Press
Themes: Silk in Italian history; Italian cities on the Silk Road.
The meeting was postponed because of the Covid-19.
1.2 Cooperation among IASSRT members
1.2.1 The 1st Silk Road Week (SRW)
From June 19 to June 24, 2020, the 1st Silk Road Week was held successfully in Hangzhou, on the theme of "The Silk Roads: Mutual Learning for Future Collaboration" with more than 200 museums and institutions in China and overseas engaging in the event in different forms online and offline.
The idea for "Silk Road Week" was firstly raised on June 21, 2019, when the IASSRT and the Chinese Museums Association’s Committee of Museums along the Silk Road jointly proposed the “Hangzhou Initiative for Dissemination and Promotion of the Silk Road Spirit”, which aimed to better tap and recognize the contents and value of the Silk Road, and to strengthen the protection of the Silk Road sites and relics.
The plan for the "Silk Road Week" is that within the week around June 22 each year, museums and other institutions organize activities, including exhibitions, performances, reports, seminars etc, to mark and celebrate the anniversary of the Silk Road - from Chang’an to the Tianshan Corridor - becoming a World Heritage location on the UNESCO list on June 22, 2014.
A. Exhibition in Hangzhou
Duration: June 19 - August 23, 2020
The exhibition "The Silk Road: before and after Richthofen" introduced to the public from a new perspective in terms of historical communications between East and West, the seven trips of Ferdinand von Richthofen in China, the five expeditions of UNESCO to the Silk Road, and the process by which the Silk Road was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. As an acdemic expert, Rong Xinjiang guided and provided materials for the exhibition.
B. Associated activities on the site
l Xinjiang Institute of Archaeology: Site opening and live streaming.
l Institute for the History of Natural Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences: 2020 "Culture evolution and environment changes along the Ancient Silk Road" Seminar
l Zhejiang University Press and Collaborative Innovation Center for the Cooperation and Development of the Belt and Road of the Zhejiang University: The Belt and Road Exhibition
l Fashion • Art Design Institute of Donghua University: Book launch of Study on weaving, dyeing and embroidering clothes on the Silk Road - Xinjiang Volume, by Dr. Wang Le
l Zhejiang Sci-Tech University (IASSRT candidate): Closing ceremony
The year 2020 marked a special context for organizing an event, as people are obliged to stay at home, so NSM came up with celebrating a virtual and real SRW while involving more than 200 museums and institutions all over the world, with great support from our members:
C. Short Videos from 100 Silk Road Museums
100 Chinese and foreign curators are filming short videos of their cultural relics, including IASSRT members, Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles from Thailand, Nasledie Institute from Russia, Tracing Patterns Foundation from USA.
D. Poster Relay
77 Chinese museums and 6 international museums, including IASSRT members, Musée des Tissus et des Arts décoratifs from France, State Hermitage Museum from Russia, British Museum, offered their most representative Silk Road objects for SRW to poster relay on social media.
E. Coloring Game
Helen Wang suggested us to hold an online coloring game of the Silk Road patterns.
F. Others
l Center for Research on Ancient Chinese History Peking University: Post online a serie of Silk Road Study articles
l ICOMOS International Conservation Center, Xi’an(IICC-X) : ICOMOS congratulation letter
1.2.2 Projects
G. World Map of Silk
With the participation of: Ulla Mannering, Eva Andersson Strand, Marie-Louise Nosch, Dode Zvezdana, Sim Yeon-Ok, Claudio Zanier, Esclarmonde Monteil, Dominique Cardon, Sandra Sardjono, Helen Persson.
The project is officially launched on June 19, 2020, during the opening ceremony of SRW.
Led by NSM, the Project aims to integrate all the resources and information related to the silk heritage, including archaeological discoveries, historical documents, craftsmanship, industrial heritage, natural ecology, museum collections, etc. and establish a platform based on the geographical distribution to demonstrate the history of silk development, exchanges along the Silk Road, and manufacture of silk industry.
The Project is jointly collaborated by NSM, Zhejiang University, Donghua University and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University with more than 12 foreign museums and scientific institutions, from UK, France, Italy, Denmark, Russia, Japan, Korea etc. Although the foreign experts couldn’t come to participate in the ceremony in person due to the coronavirus, they sent us videos and messages to congratulate the special day of the project.
The Map project is also supported by UNESCO who has already signed the Co-publishing agreement with NSM on April 2020. It is about a volume titled Thematic collection of the Cultural Interactions alongthe Silk Roads：Textiles and clothing volume, which is a part of a larger UNESCO initiative, Atlas of Cultural Interactions along the Silk Roads & Thematic Collection of the Cultural Interactions along the Silk Roads. The book will appear in print and also on-line in open access. Two coordinators and editors are Feng Zhao and Marie-Louise Nosch. Many IASSRT members agreed to give their contributions and have been working on the book.
H. The Annual Report of Silk Road Cultural Heritage 2019
With the participation of: Helen Wang, Dagmar Schaefar, Maria Menshikova, Zhang Baichun, Zhao Feng, Mei Jianjun and Rong Xinjiang.
The project is officially launched on June 19, 2020, during the opening ceremony of SRW.
The Annual Report of Silk Road Cultural Heritage 2019 was edited by Zhao Feng, and written with the participation of other experts and professors. It collected important events in the world of the year 2019, especially in countries and regions along the Silk Road, and invited more than 30 international experts in the field to review, recommend and comment.
It is divided into four sections: First, archaeological discoveries occurring in the time and space of the Silk Roads and archaeological projects reflecting the cultural interaction along the Silk Roads; Second, thematic exhibitions, which refers to special exhibitions on the cultural heritage of the Silk Roads and other related topics displayed by museums or on the cloud; Third, academic achievements in the field of cultural heritage of the Silk Roads in the form of monographs and important papers; Fourth, cultural events including all kinds of events held internationally by the government or related authorities.
In addition to working with several institutions, we also invited expert to carry out the evaluation. More than 30 foreign scholars from about 10 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and South Korea, respectively elected the "Top Ten" list of four sections.
1.2.3 Conferences and Forums
I. The 2nd Conference of the International Alliance of Museums of the Silk Road
Attended by: Zhao Feng and Zhou Yang
Dates: December 4, 2019
J. Curator Seminar in Hangzhou
Duration: June 19 - August 23, 2020
The International Curator Seminar of the Silk Road offered an excellent opportunity for curators from all over the world who have previously curated exhibitions on topics related to the Silk Road to communicate and exchange ideas.
2020 Curator’s seminar invited many experts from IASSRT members, including Rong Xinjian, Zhang Baichun.
2. Review of 2020-2021
2.1 Prepared the 5th IASSRT online symposium on 2021 with Trento, Italy
Duration: November 15 – 16, 2021
Held by: Martino Martini Center, University of Trento
Theme: Textiles on the Silk Roads: from Medieval to Industrial Periods
2.2 Cooperation among IASSRT members
2.2.1 The 2nd Silk Road Week (SRW)
The second edition which took "Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development" as the theme took place from June 18 to 24, 2021.
A. Exhibition in Hangzhou
Duration: June 18 - September 5, 2021
The exhibition titled "All Creatures - Animals and Plants on the Silk Roads", which, based on the archaeological excavations and natural flora and fauna specimens with documentary records, will present to the public how these imported animals and plants from the Silk Roads has shaped the diverse and exchanged cultural environment, bringing natural joys, material civilisation and spiritual culture and art to our lives.
B. Gansu Provincial Museum
As one of the three branch venues of the SRW, the Gansu Provincial Museum held various activities, including exhibition live streaming, Silk Road themed seminar, exhibition of Silk Road themed products, etc.
2.2.2 Projects
C. World Map of Silk Project
The platform has been established, with already more than 6000 articles uploaded.
D. The Annual Report of Silk Road Cultural Heritage 2020
The 2020 Report was released during the opening ceremony of 2021 SRW.
E. Silk Road Online Museum (SROM)
Initiated by NSM, the Silk Road Online Museum project plans to cooperate with museums along/relevant to the Silk Roads worldwide to put together a platform with four distinctive contents, which are Digital Collection, Digital Exhibition, Digital Knowledge, and Online-Curating. The project strives to better facilitate cooperation and mutual learning among museums and to provide online research and a hands-on curating platform for museum and university education. The list of SROM project partners will be constantly growing.
3. Other works during last two years
3.1 Website
Established a new website for the Institute for Intercultural Dialogue on the Silk Roads (IIDOS): https://iidos.cn/iidos, with all related projects included, such as SROM, SRW, World Map of Silk, etc.
The website for IASSRT is inserted, which is http://iassrt.iidos.cn/.
3.2 Design the logo
3.3 Applications
Received organization applications from:
International Institute of Silk, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, the contact person will be SU Miao(Vice Head);
Received individual applications from:
Dr. Mariachiara Gasaprini, Assistant Professor in University of Oregon, Study field: Art History.
Dr Hee Sook LEE-NIINIOJA, Scholar/Journalist/Artist/Designer, Independent (https://heesooklee-niinioja.weebly.com),
ICOMOS/ICICH (The Scientific Committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage).
Study field: Hindu-Buddhist/Islamic/Christian Cultural Heritage, focusing on the Indian Ocean-Silk Road-Mediterranean,
Architecture-Art, Semiotic Words-Images, Cultural Memories, Mass Media.
3.4 Publication of Textiles from Dunhuang
On October 15, the complete collection of the 15-year book series, Textiles from Dunhuang, was finally launched at Donghua University. Led by Prof. Zhao Feng, the team collaborated with specialists from four countries to complete this historical masterpiece, including our members, Rong Xinjiang, Li Wenying, Wang Le, Helen Wang, Maria Menshikova, Helen Persson.
It includes 10 volumes of Chinese and English versions of Dunhuang textiles from UK, French, Russian, and Chinese collections in Lushun and Dunhuang Academy, with multiple texts and over a thousand pieces from large banners to small fragments. Completion of the vast Textiles from Dunhuang project benefited from its strong international team from cultural institutions across the world, including British Museum, British Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, Musee Guimet, National Library of France, State Hermitage Museum St. Petersburg, Dunhuang Academy, and Lushun Museum based on research from the NSM and Donghua University.
4. Plans for 2022
4.1 Prepare the 6th IASSRT symposium in Indonesia: the date and theme are to be decided.
4.2 Prepare IASSRT 2021 Newsletter: publication of the 5th Symposium papers.
4.3 Organize the 3nd Silk Road Week.
4.4 Continue to develop the projects launched: World Map of Silk, the Annual Report, SROM, etc.
4.5 Members: welcome new members and develop IASSRT Group Page on Facebook.
4.6 Update the website.
