PureInsight | October 3, 2005
[PureInsight.org]
The "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" International Art Exhibition has been presented in more and more cities over the whole world. This exhibition has been held 14 times within the last few months in various European countries. More countries are actively preparing for it. In order to enable the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibition to play a big part in the Fa-inspired activities in Europe, we are sharing our experiences with it.
1. The importance of the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" International Art Exhibition
a) Art influences mankind
Master has clearly pointed out in "Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art": "Fine art is very important to mankind. Like other forms of human culture, it can play a guiding role with respect to people's concepts in human society, influencing mankind's aesthetic values." We know that the human society is in calamitous times and the morality of mankind is sliding down with giant strides every day. People's thinking regarding art creation and appreciation are extremely deviant. Ugliness is treated as beauty; bad is treated as good. This kind of art continuously pollutes the thinking of mankind. Both art and human beings are in such a vicious circle. When the Dafa Disciples create artworks showing Truthfulness-Compassion- Forbearance and we present them to the society, people will be guided to compassion. In that way mankind's morality will be raised. Just like the positive effect shown by the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" International Art Exhibition held in the world, the body and mind of the visitors are purified; the ideological level is sublimated.
b) Leave a path to real art for human beings in the future
Master says: "whatever Dafa disciples do, human society will emulate it in the not-too-distant future." He also pointed out that the artwork from the Dafa Disciples "should display what's beautiful, what's upright, what's pure, what's good, and what's bright and positive" ("Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art'). The reason we consider modern art to be deviant is that it leads people to dark, bizarre and wicked thinking. Its standard of appreciating beauty runs in the opposite direction of the traditional arts. But this warped art has been greatly appreciated in society, since mankind already forgot what real art is. Other than that, we realize from what Master says that: an ordinary person has karma everywhere and the painting by an ordinary person has all the elements of the painter. The karma is thus emitted from the painting. This kind of art harms not just the painter but also others. The artworks of the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibition present beauty, purity, uprightness and goodness, because the artists practice Falun Dafa and are thus assimilated to Truthfulness, Compassion and Forbearance. Their artworks will benefit the body and the mind of the others, enabling nobler character. So the creation of the Dafa Disciple has pointed a real artistic path for the mankind in the future.
c) During the Fa-rectification, it plays a role in telling the truth, eliminating evil and saving all beings.
Dafa disciples need to undertake the important mission of helping to save all beings, so the artworks from the Dafa Artist Disciples mainly depict subjects validating Dafa. The requirement for them from master is: "But you're Dafa disciples, and at present everyone is validating the Fa and creating a future for sentient beings, so you should do your best to make clarifying the facts and exposing the evil the first priority, particularly during this time. That's Dafa disciples' responsibility. It's better to have more works that expose the evil, present Dafa, and present Gods, and to make these works the core." ("Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art"). So the themes of the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibition are the persecution of Dafa Disciples, Dafa disciples doing the exercises, studying the Fa, spreading the Fa widely, and some artworks show scenes of Gods and heaven.
Through vivid, lifelike and concrete painting artwork can clarify the truth clearly to every level of society. So when people come to see the art exhibit the thinking in their mind that is not righteous will be eliminated. They can feel how extensive and profound Dafa is, how wicked and brutal the persecution is, how indomitable and unrelenting Dafa disciples are, and how merciful the Dafa Disciples' breadth of vision is. When these beings understand the truth of Dafa, they position themselves in the future correctly. The reason why the Dafa Art Exhibit has this kind of power is because each artwork bears connotations of Dafa. They are all creations with wisdom from Dafa and created with a pure mind by the Dafa Disciple artists. They are also strengthened by Master. This is not applied to any form of art exhibition from ordinary people.
d) The process of holding the art exhibition is the process of Fa-rectification
Because the Art Exhibition either during the Fa-rectification or after the Fa-rectification will exert great influence on mankind in the future, evil is really afraid of it and spares no pains to destroy and obstruct it. The manifestations are varied. Some come from obstruction by the Chinese Embassy. The Embassy threatens and intimidates the holder. Some come from disturbances from other dimensions. For example, the practitioners who were organizing the art exhibition were often disturbed unexpectedly. Some practitioners were restrained and didn't realize the importance of the art exhibition. Evil tries every means to find the attachment of the Disciples，to make use of our attachments, restraining the right thoughts. Due to these, the Art Exhibit was obstructed. So the cultivation status of an individual practitioner and the status of the whole area, as well as the depth of our understanding towards the art exhibition, will directly influence the launch of the art exhibit. So the process of holding the art exhibit is also the process of increasing our xinxing, strengthening upright thoughts, validating Dafa and saving all beings.
2. The meaning of the "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibition in Europe
Throughout the developmental history of the arts, Europe has the most perfect art of mankind. We understand from what Master said, the God preserved the most upright, traditional, and perfect works of art of this human civilization in France. For example the works of art in the Louvre and Versailles and the art on the streets of Paris. "Dafa disciples would also be able to find their way back, based on the foundational skills of those traditional, upright works of art." ("Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art"). But Van Gogh and Picasso, who are the Daring Vanguard of destroying , mankind's upright and traditional arts were also from Europe. They led the arts of mankind to a dead end.
The artworks of the Dafa Disciples can be shown in Europe, where mankind has created the perfect arts. Its meaning is extraordinary. First of all, the Dafa Disciple artists go back to the upright and traditional arts. They learn and carry on the consummate basic techniques. Secondly, they present the connotation of Dafa to the people of the world, blazing a path for the existence of human beings in the future to achieve an incomparable spiritual realm. That is why the artworks of the Dafa Disciples can mostly present the perfect combination of art in both form and content. Thirdly, their artworks lead the art of mankind back to upright, and leave the true culture to the people in the future.
To enable this kind of real art to be spread in Europe is one of the important missions for our European Dafa Disciples during Fa-rectification.
3. Experience and suggestions for holding the Art Exhibition
a) Whether or not the Art Exhibition can be held properly, depends on the understanding of it. Experience sharing and discussion among us is also a must. The coordinator of the Art Exhibition in each country should not just limit improvements in understanding to himself; running the Art Exhibition is a matter of a whole. S/he should frequently communicate with the Dafa Disciples, and transmit good experience sharing articles, information and new situations to the others in a timely fashion. This helps make sure everyone pays attention to it and enables the Art Exhibition to be spread orderly and deeply.
b) Make good use of the enthusiasm and the capability of the Disciples, tell the truth to every level of the society people.
Get the support and help from them for our Art Exhibition. Due to the profound influence of the painting arts on European culture, the high levels of society, such as the politicians, really respect the arts. After they understand the truth, they will be willing to help us. For example, the exhibition can be held at the parliament and in the city government buildings. And they can make a speech at our opening of the Art Exhibition. The Belgium Dafa Disciples held the Art Exhibition in the European Parliament. The Swedish Disciples received support form the European Union Parliament member of its own country. We can also introduce the artworks of the Dafa Disciples to the local artists. They usually have many ways and a lot of experience in holding art exhibitions and can provide help directly to us. For example, the Turkish Dafa Disciples got support from artists and held the Art Exhibition in the biggest Art Center in Ankara. The visitors came in an endless stream.
c) Contact the local human right organization on our own initiative.
Since there are contents in the Art Exhibition revealing and opposing the persecution, human rights organization will be willing to support us and provide us with various things. Through them, we can invite more people to visit the Art Exhibition. For example, one of the Swedish human rights organizations provided a room free of charge for the Disciples to hold the Against Torture Art Exhibition during this year's International Human Rights Meeting. The German Disciples made use of an annual meeting of the International Human Rights Organization at the German branch to hold the Art Exhibition against the persecution. The meeting participants from many countries thus learned a lot about the persecution of the Falun Gong Disciples in China.
c) Bring into play the strong points of Europe.
Hold the Art Exhibition at scenic spots and historical sites with a lot of travelers, like in famous cathedrals. The effect of holding the Art Exhibition in the world famous St. Martin's Church was quite good. They could even hand out more than two thousand flyers to the visitors every day.
d) Treat each of the Art Exhibitions as the most advantageous chance to clarify the truth and save all beings.
We should effectively spread the information about our Art Exhibition to society. The most feasible way is to contact the media. Ask them to provide free advertising for us. Invite them to attend our opening ceremony. Especially if we can invite the politicians to make a speech, it will be quite attractive to the media. If the media reports our opening ceremony, it's no doubt the best advertisement for us. A lot more people will come to see the paintings. So we should contact the local media on our own initiative each time.
e) Make sufficient preparation to run the opening ceremony properly.
The opening ceremony is important because usually the Art Exhibition won't stay long in any one place. On the one hand, there is the difficulty of renting a room, on the other hand we need to consider the limited time and to hand the paintings over to the other cities. To hold the Art Exhibition properly within a short time, the opening ceremony will play a big role. That's why we need to prepare it diligently. There are a lot of things that need to be done. For example: publishing advertisements, putting up posters, delivering flyers, sending out invitations, inviting politicians and artists, inviting them to give a speech. We can also invite representatives from the human rights organization to make a speech and invite the journalists to visit. The Disciples need to prepare the explanation diligently, arrange the activities properly for the whole opening ceremony. This process requires us to give full play to our entire strength and wisdom, cooperate with each other, and coordinate properly to reach the effect.
f) We can also think about more methods to run other activities to clarify the truth around the Art Exhibition.
For example, hold the Nine Commentaries seminar, eliminate the disturbance of people by evil. Especially when holding the Art Exhibition in the university, it's really necessary to spread the "Nine Commentaries" to students ignorant of the truth about China. We can also, according to the local situation, hold an arts lecture at the same time as the Art Exhibition. Invite the Disciples engaged in creating artworks to give the lecture. Enlighten the ordinary people about what the real arts is and how to appreciate it. We can use other Dafa art forms like dancing and singing to support the opening ceremony of the Art Exhibition.
g) Because there are quite a number of European countries who want to hold the Art Exhibition, usually a few countries share the same set of paintings.
Some countries have only one or a few Disciples. The conditions for holding the Art Exhibition there are restrictive. So European Disciples from the other countries need to help each other and coordinate with each other. We should not be satisfied with just holding the Art Exhibition in our own country, but also help the other countries, especially from eastern Europe. We can summarize the experiences and lessons from our own countries and share with the Disciples from the other countries to enable the Art Exhibition to be launched successfully all over Europe.
h) When promoting the Art Exhibition, we can also promote the Fa-validating Photo Exhibition step by step in Europe. We suggest that the countries with more Disciples own a set of the photos. This can be ordered and bought from the New York Dafa Art Center through the Europe Coordination Team. There are totally 130 photos. The frames can be the same as used before for the Fa-Rectification Photo Exhibition. If several countries, especially the western European countries, share the same set of "Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance" Art Exhibition pictures already, they can consider sharing the same set of photos as well. It's convenient for turnover and it enables running the Art Exhibition and Photo Exhibition at the same time. It also enables the Dafa Art Exhibition and the Photo Exhibition to exert a greater influence to the society.
