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Porsche exhibits artworks from the last two years of the “Empowering the Future” Art Contest at SH Contemporary 2012Select pieces from 2010 and 2011 Porsche art contest on display in Shanghai


Shanghai. Porsche China yesterday began exhibiting award-winning artworks selected from its annual “Empowering the Future”Art Contest in 2010 and 2011at SH Contemporary, the prestigious international contemporary art fair focused on Asian creativity. Throughout the event — which holds a special preview on September 6 and runs from September 7-9 — at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre, Porsche will also showcase the full range of its high-performance sports cars. Completing its second year of collaboration with SH Contemporary in 2012, the marque once again reaffirms its constant commitment to promoting and delivering educational support to the youth of China.

SH Contemporary returns to the city for the sixth time this year to fulfil its mission of showcasing some of the most important developments in contemporary art from China and across Asia-Pacific. This commitment extends to its selection of Art Show partners as well: SH Contemporary particularly favours brands committed to nurturing talents, as demonstrated through their educational, artistic or charitable initiatives.

All the works on display have been selected from more than 300 creations by young artists who have competed in the Porsche “Empowering the Future” Art Contest, held in conjunction with the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI), since 2010. Under the overarching theme of “Empowering the Future,”the Art Contest is designed to provide educational support and opportunities for young artists in China. It creates a unique platform for driving awareness across the country for the importance of improving children’s health and education in remote areas.

The Porsche “Empowering the Future” Art Contest was inspired by the partnership between Porsche and the United Nations Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) to facilitate care and improve welfare for children in rural areas of China. Since 2009, Porsche has partnered with UNICEF on the Mobile Educational Training and Resource Units Programme (METRU), and soon, it will also begin it’s collaboration on a new project for Integrated Early Childhood Development (IECD), which are all part of the ‘Empowering the Future’ initiative. METRU has donated more than 15 million RMB to provide better care and improve the welfare of children in rural areas and facilitate the transportation of essential supplies for their health and education. For example, the six Porsche Cayenne donated to METRU in Sichuan, Gansu and Yunnan Provinces are specially modified to overcome the geographic obstacles that have long prevented these areas from receiving regular aid and support in the past. By the end of June 2012, UNICEF and Porsche had delivered training, qualified instructors and resources to more than 8,189teachers and 131,804 students across 441 schools in Sichuan and Gansu Provinces as well as begun reaching out tomore than 2,000 teachers and 40,000 students across 86 schools in Yunnan Province.

Mr. Helmut Broeker, Chief Executive Officer of Porsche China said, “Through all of our charitable initiatives, we have always been dedicated to improving the situations of rural youth and raising public awareness of their needs. Exhibiting these artworks created by such young artists at this fair has helped bring to life our commitment to social responsibility; yet even more importantly, through them, we persist in our mission to drawing greater attention towards and calling for increased public support of better education for children and youth in remote areas.”

Each of the works on display conveys messages of innocence, hope and positivity. Among them, 2011 first-place winner Li Cheng’s painting “Happiness”, captures the joy that springs from the purity of first experiences. Yan Meiru, who came in second with “A pleasant tour” expresses the dream of a cleaner world for the children of the future, and in “Cinderella,” third-place winner Cong Xuming portrays the yearning among rural youth for Cinderella-like change.

“It is a privilege to work alongside Porsche and showcase our students’ work through a major platform like SH Contemporary,” said Mr. Luo Zhongli, Head of the SFAI. “Just as the Porsche ‘Empowering the Future’ Art Contest has helped students gain the skills they need for their future careers, outlets like SH Contemporary help them obtain the recognition they deserve.”

“We are proud to welcome Porsche and its ‘Empowering the Future’ gallery back to our fair,”said SH Contemporary Fair Director Mr. Massimo Torrigiani. “Last year, Porsche’s outstanding exhibition confirmed that this is precisely the type of philanthropic arts programme that we always hope to promote at SH Contemporary. It gives young artists an exceptional opportunity to gain recognition while simultaneously focusing attention on an important social cause.”

This October, Porsche and the SFAI will continue to raise awareness to improve education in China’s underprivileged regions with their third annual Art Contest in Chongqing.

SH Contemporary 2012 Address:
Shanghai Exhibition Centre, No. 1000 Yan An Middle Road, Shanghai
Public Opening Hours: 11:00 to 18:00 September 7-8, Friday-Saturday
11:00 to 17:00 September 9, Sunday

9/7/2012