The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic GamesAugust 8-24 2008
Related story: Beijing 2008 Olympic Games posters available July 20
Date/Time: 2:00 p.m., Friday, July 18
Venue: Main Press Center (MPC)
Sun Weide
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, welcome to today's conference at the MPC on launch ceremony of the official image of official posters on Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. First of all I will introduce the guests on the stage: Madam Zhao Yanxia, deputy director of Culture and Ceremonies Department, BOCOG; Mr. Zhao Meng, art director of the look and image of the 2008 Beijing OlympicGames, Culture and Ceremonies Department, BOCOG; Mr. Wang Min, art director of the look and image of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Culture and Ceremonies Department, BOCOG; Professor He Jie, vice dean of the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University; Madam Yu Li, managing director of the Getty Images China Holding Company.
First of all, I would like to give the floor to Ms. Zhao Yanxia.
Zhao Yanxia
First of all, I would like to thank you for the interest in our efforts. The official posters on the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games are the priority of the IOC. In compliance with the requirements and the timetable for the general planning and the preparation for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games and based on the past experience of the previous Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, we have finalized the design of the official posters and images.
Over the past century, Olympic Games has developed various characteristics and elements. In addition to the emblem, the theme song and the mascot, the poster is also a major and important element.
Even since the first official poster was unveiled, at Stockholm 1912 Olympic Games, it has become a mission for the host cities to promote the official posters. The official posters bear a lot on promoting the features and the appeal of the Olympic Games, as well as the host cities.
And after more than 100 year, the poster has become a major symbol of the Olympic Games. Conventionally, the organizational committees of the host cities have invited the candidates to put in their wisdom so as to select the best. The posters integrated various Olympic elements, such as the emblem, the mascots, and the symbol of events.
It also employs special landscapes and venue and image of athletes so as to deliver a multiple visual image. The Olympic posters are a record of our time. It is a visual represent of commerce and culture.
First of all, I would like to go over the design of the previous Olympic posters.
Let's have a look at the posters of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. It displays the emblem of the Olympic Games in blue and white. It has multiple implications, such as peace, unity, cycle of life, breath, and ancient Olympics.
The poster of Sydney Olympic Games displays the so called millennium man, which is typical Australian free and dynamic style. It also integrates the patterns of booming around and Olympic Flame on the top of Sydney Theater.
The official poster of Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games depicts the image of ancient athletes with the background of the colors of the Olympic Games. It is reinforced by the pattern of the styles and the torch relay.
The poster of the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games displays the emblem of the Games as well as the skyline and the landmark of the city.
The poster of Seoul Olympic Games shows hallow of Five Rings indicating the reach of Olympic purposes. The image of the torch bearer implies the pursuit for happiness and prosperity
The poster Los Angeles Olympic Games applied a collage style to give the emblem a new dimension, the stars for hope and horizontal lines for speed.
We have referred to the previous designs of the Olympic posters, trying out best to deliver the image of Chinese characteristics. We tried to ensure the consistency of the posters and the Olympic Games.
Moscow 1980, Montreal 1976, Munich 1972, Mexico City 1968, Tokyo 1964, Rome 1960, Melbourne 1956. Melbourne sets precedence in the Olympic history by holding the equestrian event in Stockholm and we have renewed this event by holding equestrian in Hong Kong. We also have the sailing events in Qingdao. All the co-host cities will have the football event. This makes Beijing stand out against other co-host cities. Here are more posters: Helsinki 1952, London 1948, Berlin 1936, Los Angeles 1932, Amsterdam 1928, Paris 1924, Antwerp 1920, Stockholm 1912, London 1908, St. Louis 1904, Paris 1900, and Athens 1896.
Actually, the history of the Olympic poster is consistent with the history of the Olympic Games. So after reviewing all these previous posters, I have a few remarks to share with you.
Firstly, we sincerely hope that Olympic Games will never be suspended again as a result of a war. And I have some background information for the second remark.
In 1908, three questions were raised in the Tianjin Journal: when can Chinese individuals participate in the Olympic Games? When can Chinese delegation participate in the Olympic Games? When can China hold the Olympic Games?
One hundred years has passed and now we are ready to accomplish this long born dream. As we are reviewing the Olympic Games posters, we see the USA has held four Olympic Games, UK three and France two. China is the now the world of star for the economic growth. As we are preparing for the upcoming Olympic Games, we cannot help wonder when and where we can hold the next Olympic Games. This is my second remark. Thank you.
Sun Weide
Thank you, Ms. Zhao Yanxia. Now I'd like to invite Mr. Zhao Meng, art director of the look and image of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Culture and Ceremonies Department, BOCOG, to give us the introduction about the design of posters of Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Zhao Meng
Good afternoon. I am delighted to have the opportunity to talk about the design concept and creation procedure of the official posters of the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympics Games.
The official poster has been designed to promote the philosophy of Olympic and Paralympic Games among the public so as to highlight the Olympic humanistic heritage and highlight the features of the great event.
We have consulted intensively with IOC and expects from all sectors. After a stream of refining and polishing efforts, we have finalized the official version of the Olympic posters.
I have three points to make. The first is the design concept and the requirement for the official posters. First of all, the posters have been designed in compliance the philosophy of 'One World One Dream' so as to highlight the concept of 'Green Olympics, High-tech Olympics and Peoples Olympics.' And secondly, these posters are representative of Chinese characteristics so as to deliver the message of Chinese cultural and the humanistic heritage as well as the passion and enthusiasm of the people for the Olympic Games. And thirdly, this design has leverage on our creativity and the cutting edge design skills so as to develop an appeal around the whole world.
First of all, we have the Olympic theme poster titled the 'Sophisticated Beijing for a harmonious Olympic Games'. This design has employed the style of traditional Chinese painting to highlight the emblem of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. On both sides of the posters, we have the image of the Olympic venues and the classic landmarks. This unique style ensures the consistency and also highlights the consistency between sport and culture and the harmony of Olympic Games and China. This category has three pictures.
And the second category is people-themed under the title of 'Smiling Beijing and inclusive Olympic Games'. The smiling faces of the kids, the young people and the elderly, highlight the passion and fraternity of Chinese people to demonstrate that Beijing reaches out to the whole world. This is the classic edition of the philosophy of 'One World One Dream.
The third category is event-themed under the title of 'Robust Beijing to exceed the Dreams'. We have some shared themes and features for the posters of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The design combines the image of the athletes and symbol of events against the background of the colored line to depict the whole design of Chinese appeal.
The design is classic, elegant and passionate, symbolizing the Olympic motto of 'Swifter, Higher, Stronger.' The posters of Paralympics adopted the same color and style to highlight the philosophy of transcendence, integration and equality. And this style is also consistent with the style of the image and look of the Beijing Paralympic Games. In this alternative design, we employ the image of athletes against the background of auspicious clouds, so as to highlight the commitment and also a demonstration of pursuit of the Olympic Games for harmony and good fortune.
As we can see, the posters of Olympics and those of the Paralympics shared the same coloring and style, highlighting both Games of equal splendor. And for the sports-themed design, we have five pictures.
Third, the creative procedure of the posters. This process can be broken down into four stages. First stage, on May 23, 2007, we held a special meeting to invite 71 institutes and studios to design for Olympics and Paralympics.
And during the Second stage, we collect 930 from 24 institutes and 10 studios till June 20th.
The third stage features the evaluation and review of these designs. On July 6, a special committee was organized in Tsinghua University. The review committee was chaired by Mr. Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of BOCOG. And it is composed of 6 judges.
The judges are respectively, Professor Chen Hanlin, from Academy of Art and Design of Tsinghua University; Professor He Jie, deputy dean of Academy of Art and Design of Tsinghua University; Professor Tan ping, vice president of China Academy of Art and Design; Professor Wang Min, dean of School of Design and China Academy of Art and Design; Mr. Han Binghua, vice chairman of Hong Kong Artist Association; Wang Yuefei, academic consulter of Shenzhen Graphic and Design Association. We are delighted to have here today Professor He Jie and Professor Wang Min.
After serious scrutiny, we finalized a shortlist of 23 candidates, which were subject to further refining and polishing. And during the 4th stage, the special class force was designated on September 3, according to recommendation by the arts commission of china artist association. This class force has refined and polished the 23 short list candidate. Thanks to their hard work, now we have 16 designs for the Olympics and another 16 for the Paralympics. That is all. Thank you.
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