Pamela Silver at the opening ceremony

 

I have just returned from one of the most exciting and memorable experiences of my life – the Olympic Fine Art Exhibition, Beijing, held at the same time as the 2008 Olympic Games. I was one of 300 world artists who were chosen from 10,000 applicants from 40 countries. The art is now on exhibition in the Chinese International Exhibition Center and its next move will be to the Tai Miao Temple in the Forbidden City. Later it will be taken on a world tour, to Shanghai, Hong Kong, the USA and Switzerland and finally will be housed in a new museum to commemorate the exhibition. 

It all began about three months ago, when I received a letter of acceptance to take part in this exhibition, with “Faces Looking Forward To Peace” 2007 - an oil painting on linen, 74 x 80cm. It sounded too good to be true. 

It was an amazing exhibition, which entailed ten days of hospitality in a five star hotel, tours and banquets, and all at the expense of the Olympic Culture Committee and the Olympic Fine Arts Committee 2008. It all came true. 

Before I knew it DHL collected my painting, and I received my letters of invitation, visa forms and accommodation letters for the Schonbrunn Hotel, Beijing. 

When I “googled” the hotel nothing came up. 

The hotel did not appear on the Internet as it only opened a week before we arrived. Someone said it was built specifically for this event. It was built exactly in the style of the Schonbrunn in Vienna, with the gold monuments and sculptures on the roof and chandeliers, marble and gold everywhere, but it was not overdone. It was very beautiful and had the Chinese feeling of peace and calm within. There were Viennese music playing and paintings on the wall – copies of work you would have seen in Vienna before the last world war. 

We were on the same plane as President Shimon Peres and his entourage to Beijing. 

Arriving at Beijing airport was an amazing experience. It was the day before the opening of the games and there was much excitement. People were standing in line carrying flags; the lines were long and each passport controller got marks according to his performance and what mark you pressed into his/her computer. The airport building itself was like a beautiful museum, tall and magnificent with soft lights, very ethereal. One takes a train within the airport to the arrivals hall. It was filled with the many different flags of the countries participating in the Olympics. The taxis were clean, with white seat covers, and the drivers wore gloves as in Japan. The whole city seemed as though it had been newly painted. Flowers filled the streets and new trees had been planted everywhere. 

Wherever you looked it was clean and tidy and flags were flying inscribed ‘One World One Dream’ and ‘China and the World, Beijing 2008’. This was the theme of the exhibition too and the aim of the exhibition was to connect world cultures through art. This goal was certainly fulfilled as we the artists connected one culture to another. The streets were filled with volunteers to guide and help visitors and the same applied to the new underground station where all the signs were in English. 

We arrived at the five star hotel, where we were given a beautiful brand new room. 

We were the first artists to arrive so we ate in the huge dining room all alone. However, very soon other artists from all over the world began arriving, and most were able to speak English. They came from Korea, Mongolia, India, Russia, Jordan, Egypt, all parts of Europe, America and Canada. Everyone was very friendly, and we sat for hours over the most exciting food – talking, laughing and just thoroughly enjoying every night. 

Monday August 11, 2008 was the grand exhibition opening ceremony. We were driven there by buses and arrived at the exhibition halls at around 2 pm. There was an enormous number of people. All one could see was a sea of heads and there was very tight security. Everyone was checked and there were police dogs everywhere. I later heard they had Israelis advising the Chinese security. 

All the artists were invited to sign their names on the wall as they entered this huge hall. The grand opening was hosted by the Minister of Culture and the Head of the Olympic Games Committee. The exhibition was divided into two parts, one for the Chinese artists and one for the international artists. 

There was a great variety of wonderful art to see from many cultures which I found very stimulating, especially the art from Asia. That night we were invited to a celebration banquet. We were presented with Olympic torches and later will be receiving gold medals and a catalogue with pictures of the grand opening.  

There were posters and light boxes displaying the thousand art works all along 12 main transportation networks. 

During the day we traveled on the underground, all new, clean and clearly signposted in English. The journey cost one shekel each way. This was a especially low price to help reduce the number of cars in the road. At every station there was a voice telling people where they were and where to change. The stations were filled with well-dressed young people and with families – grandparents, parents and each family with one child. 

The organizing committee took us on trips to the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. We had the most fun together with the artists from the Asian countries – India, Korea, Mongolia and Bangladesh. 

I felt loved and indulged, and I was very grateful to have been given this unforgettable experience. A very rare and wonderful week, although it felt much longer than that. 

As an artist one spends many hours alone creating. The work mounts up and one wonders at times what its all about. Then something like this happens and one meets people from the four corners of the earth doing the same thing. One has a common language, ideas and thoughts flow and it is most exciting to feel a bond with people from so many different countries I connect best with the Indian artists and hope to have a combined show with a lady from New Delhi – we felt as though we had always known each other. 

The aim of this exhibition was to promote friendship and understanding among the peoples of the world. The Chinese certainly achieved their aim.

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