Eric Fan Feng, assistant professor, Institute of Contemporary Art, Tsinghua University, Beijing; Betti-Sue Hertz, director and chief curator, The Wallach Art Gallery; Sophia Kidd, Associate Research Fellow, College of Literature and Journaism, Department of Classical Chinese Literature, Sichuan University; and Yi Xin Tong, visual artist discuss the far-reaching influence of the ancient concept of shan shui—literally “mountain water painting”—for ecologically sensitive contemporary Chinese artists. With consideration of this unique cultural referent, water’s role in landscapes undergoing degradation cannot be understood simply in terms commonly shared by global environmental and ecological art.

Co-presented with Columbia Global Centers, Beijing and Columbia University School of the Arts in conjunction with the Year of Water.