The 809 International New Image Art Festival (the 809 INIAF) is the first event and will be held from Friday, July 25 to Tuesday, August 05, 2008 at the 809 International Art District in the Three Gorges area, China. 
 
The 809 INIAF is a China's leading non-commercial annual event & exhibition, such as exhibition, performance, forum, symposium, etc. Its purpose is to introduce the development of contemporary visual arts in China through special activities at home and abroad to establish a method for artists from different countries to exchange ideas about forefront of contemporary visual arts as well as for in-depth and meticulous studies and research. With focus on the overall construction of artistic activities, the 809 International New Image Art Festival is more of a systematic cultural construction project than a mere exhibition. Apart from holding an art festival once every year, the China 809 has also adopted a variety of corresponding activities to meet the requirements of academic research and development. We plan to collect the works of the world's vanguard artists, construct data records, and actively promote the research and development of photograph, video, multimedia installation, short film, new media, and interdisciplinary art in the world. 
 
The 809 INIAF has its own specific themes and cultural orientation. As the world's largest developing country, China's unique geographical, historical and cultural image has attracted international attention. In the recent years, benefited from the globalization of economic development, China has drawn the attention of global audiences in the international economic arena as its economic development has reached a remarkable rate. However, accompanying its rapid economic development, problems in regard to people and environments arise. This has also caught the close attentions of the professionals all over the world. At present, pollution in China's rivers and atmosphere has not only seriously endangered the overall health conditions of the citizens but has also severely affected the development of China's long-term interests in the local community. The Three Gorges has become the concern of environmental protection and has raised the major concerns in the international community worldwide. The 809 INIAF will be based on the theme of new image (Digital) with the convergence of the essence of the human spirit in environmental protection. This festival aims at displaying the different styles and forms of Chinese as well as international art creations in response to practical problems of human exploration of a variety of possibilities to thus to display the importance of Visual Art. With its pioneered characteristics in the development of contemporary art creation, the festival will further display the relevance and necessity in social development. The 809 International Visual Art Festival carries the theme of environmental protection and raises the issue of environmental survival of human beings. In order to explore the integral relationship between human beings and the environment, to enlighten artists of the world (including all environment-loving individuals) and to realize the major issues in regards to the immediate living environment, the 809 INIAF emphasizes the importance of environmental protection. 
 
As the core concept of this event, the connotation of “arts and environment“ can be broadly described in two aspects: the environmental issues related to the people's livelihood which have an impact on the world economic development and prosperity of all countries. Works of artists would bear the connotations of environmental protection from different aspects according to unique features of their background (such as history and local conditions).

Secondly, the concept of "art, environmental protection" places more emphasis on the involvement of artists in the environmentally-friendly activities. We believe that we can achieve the goal of environmental protection with the efforts of artists who combine aesthetic thinking, style and practice with the natural environment. That is to say, to use culture to shape the environment and to nurture and protect it in order to truly understand and appreciate its greatness.

And thirdly, environmental protection is not an issue that can be independently resolved by a single State or area. To deal with the challenges brought forth by environmental crisis, the cooperation of the world's artists is required. The participation of all lovers of the environment is welcome at the art festival. Contact by means of Internet connection and other such innovations are also acceptable. 
 
Our motto is: Environmental protection is for the sake of Art, and Art is for the sake of environmental protection!