Art knows no national boundaries, unlike its creators
posted on 06:02 PM
Behance is a popular creative community platform. Other than showcasing the work of designers from
all over the world, it also allows designers to solicit for jobs by posting their resumes. However, since August this year, this major carrier of inspiration for contemporary art has blocked all user accounts registered in the mainland without warning.
This social media platform is owned by Adobe, the industry leader in visual creativity software. Most businesses in print, graphic design, photography, web design, and movie-editing use Adobe products, which includes familiar names such as Photoshop, Flash, and PDF. It can be said that all workers on visual creatives in this century inevitably cross paths with this company.
The recent ban led to contemporary Chinese creative design circles lamenting “art knows no national boundaries, unlike its creators.” Simply re-registering as an overseas user will allow one to continue using the site but not before losing overnight the creative work that they invested much time and effort to manage and share.
China today is a major hub for art, both in transaction volumes as well as talent; its contemporary artists exert great and newfound influence in the 21st century. It is also one of the most important engines for the digital society – its digital cities and internet bellwethers have led Asian perspectives over the past two decades.
But in recent years, the notion that art has no borders and that the internet is boundless have gradually eroded. In China, persons of ambitions not only shoulder “pressure from Beijing” which foreigners are aware of, but also the very pressure from foreign opinion itself. Therefore, we should pay closer attention to Chinese intellectuals, and progress from separation to understanding, as well as from isolation to communication. Only then does the Gospel stand a better chance of penetrating the hearts of the country’s aspiring luminaries. Do you agree?
PRAYER POINTS:
May the Lord cause us to care about the plight of China’s creative professionals.
Pray that the Lord will grant us an understanding of the future influence of China’s creative professionals.
Pray that China’s creative professionals will not become a hindrance to the Gospel.