Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Ink Studies: Everyday Practices of Calligraphy in Contemporary China

Ink Studies: Everyday Practices of Calligraphy in Contemporary China

Vermeeren, Laura

Paperback

AnthropologyChinese ArtTypography & Calligraphy

ISBN10: 9813252979
ISBN13: 9789813252974
Publisher: National University of Singapore Press
Published: Oct 23 2025
Pages: 228
Weight: 0.80
Height: 0.58 Width: 6.11 Depth: 8.93
Language: English
In a world where writing by hand is disappearing, Laura Vermeeren studies why calligraphy in China is not just surviving, but evolving in surprising ways.

As handwriting fades in the digital age, calligraphy in China is caught between tradition and reinvention. Ink Studies deconstructs this paradox, determining how calligraphy is not simply an ancient art form, but more so a site of ongoing cultural negotiation. Laura Vermeeren investigates how calligraphy moves through five distinct visual and social fields, shaping and being shaped by its practitioners. While often framed as an act of repetition and tied to centuries of disciplined copying, calligraphy also emerges here as a force of creativity--one that is actively mobilized in contemporary China, whether through state-sponsored initiatives or the aesthetics of modern design.

Uniting contemporary art and media history, Ink Studies provides vital perspectives on how China's past is continually reimagined in the present, portraying calligraphy's enduring relevance in an era of rapid technological change.

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Chinese Art

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