On the occasion of the Spring Festival in 2022, LCX Sci-Fi Universe Theme Exhibition, which is presented by FT Culture, kicked off at Pavilion #3 of Ocean Flower Island Museum. The exhibition will continue until the end of November 2022.
Intro to Ocean Flower Island
Ocean Flower Island is an artificial archipelago consists of three independent offshore islets. It is a one-stop international seaside resort built by Evergrande Group, which integrates theme parks, resort hotels, shopping and delicacies, conferences and exhibitions, coastal entertainment, and cultural performances.
The Museum is located at Ocean Flower Island One, covering an area of about 74,000 square meters and a total construction area of about 23,000 square meters. It aims to create a multicultural art space for all ages to appreciate the charm of different culture and art by all means.
Intro to LCX Sci-Fi Universe Theme Exhibition
Based on works from Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics ('the Collection'), LCX Sci-Fi Universe Theme Exhibition is an immersive, confluent and diversified theme exhibition, integrating original paintings of comics, multi-language comic books, multimedia comics, interactive entertainment content, cultural and creative products and contents. It establishes a two-dimensional artistic space, a sci-fi world full of imagination. The exhibition includes nine sections: Original Paintings Section, Fashion inspired by Comic Art Section, Art and Literature in Graphic Novels Section, Popular Science × Sci-Fi Section, Multimedia Reading Section, Science Fiction × China Classics Section, Readers' Reviews Section, Comic Art Celebrities Section and Somatic Gaming Section. All together brings a fusion journey to the audience, of science fiction and comic art, tradition and modernity, past and future, science fiction and popular science, aesthetics and entertainment.
In Art and Literature in Graphic Novels Section, creation process of many works from the Collection are showcased here: scripts (both original text & translation), character setting drawings, storyboard sketches, black and white drafts, and colored drawings. Step by step, from those precious materials, people will learn how graphic novels are produced.
In Comic Art Celebrities Section, audience will learn more about the twenty-eight artists who participate in the creation of the Collection. In Multimedia Reading Section, vomics help audience to 'read' The Wandering Earth, Sea of Dreams, The Village Teacher and Yuanyuan's Bubbles more easily.
There is also a small 'classroom' set in the exhibition, where audience can watch popular science content in comic format based on The Wandering Earth. Science experiments for adolescents can also be found in this section.
In Readers' Reviews Section, there are selected sentences from Liu Cixin’s Essays displayed for appreciation and discussion. There is also a message wall. Visitors could leave their comments there regarding the exhibition and the Collection.
In Science Fiction × China Classics Section, there are illustrations combining characters from Journey to the West with featured scenes or elements from the Collection, Mecha Figures from Journey to the West and comic-based artwork of Twenty-Four Solar Terms. From these illustrations, across time and space, mythological characters from the classic Chinese literary masterpiece meet with characters and scenes from Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics. Magic and science fiction complement each other. Mythology and comic blend together.
In Fashion inspired by Comic Art Section, stories, colors, intentions and philosophies coming from the Collection are projected onto each piece of dresses. SF imagination connect comic with fashion, making the boundary between them blurs. The charm of the two types of art add radiance and beauty to each other.
In Somatic Gaming Section, visitors can enjoy the happy game time together.
These well-designed theme areas present the sci-fi imagination, future perspective, literary thinking and artistic charm contained in Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics, in a more immersive, interactive and experiential way.
So far, the first three series of the Collection, including twelve graphic novels, have been published by CITIC Press Group in China. The rest three works will be available for Chinese readers in May 2022. French rights of the Collection have been granted to the largest independent comic publisher in Europe - Delcourt Group; English and German rights were licenced to leading publishers in UK and Germany: Head of Zeus and Splitter Verlag. Related language editions of Graphic Novel Collection of Liu Cixin’s Sci-Fi Classics have published in respective market since 2021.
