Prof. Dr. Jochem Heizmann, Member of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft as well as President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China: “Volkswagen Group China is honored to receive this prestigious Art Power 100 Award. Just as we aim to bring the best in mobility solutions to China, we also strive to help make high-quality art accessible to all Chinese people. Through the Deutschland 8 exhibition, Volkswagen Group China, along with Chinese and German government partners, worked together to bring top-level German art to China, thus helping to foster mutual understanding and promote stronger Sino-German ties.”
As part of the 45th anniversary of Sino-German diplomatic relations, Deutschland 8: German Art in China, a groundbreaking exhibition held in Beijing in September 2017, was supported by China’s Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Education, the German Foreign Office, the Chinese Embassy in Germany, the Germany Embassy in China and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of
Culture.
Deutschland 8, co-organized by Germany’s Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur e.V. (Foundation for Art and Culture) and the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, featured a total of nearly 320 key works by the most important artists and highlighted the historical context and developments in German Art from 1950s to today. Paintings, sculptures, installations, photography and video were displayed simultaneously at seven renowned museum venues throughout Beijing.
Volkswagen is committed to being a reliable partner in Chinese society. Involvement in arts and culture is fundamental component of the company’s corporate responsibility, seeing art as an essential part of the fabric of society. As a mobility provider Volkswagen Group China makes culture accessible through its PACE strategy, short for Participation, Connection, Education & Exchange. Deutschland 8 was supported by Volkswagen Group China under its PACE Strategy.
Volkswagen established the PACE cultural strategy to promote Sino-German cultural and artistic exchanges. It cares for young people's cultural environment and contributes to the future of arts and culture education as well as aiming to provide an outstanding opportunity to create a distinctive form of cooperation that crosses the boundary between industrial enterprises and the cultural life of people in the society. At the same time, it conveys Volkswagen Group China's CSR principles and demonstrates its commitment to building a bridge connecting culture and the public.