19 Nov 2025
From 27 October to 1 November 2025, the Exhibition Hall of the Busan Metropolitan City Government hosted a cross-border celebration of creativity—the 2025 Busan International Art Festival (BIAF). Centred on the theme “Industry 4.0 + ART”, this year’s festival brought together 12,990 submissions from 85 countries, from which 1,235 outstanding works were selected for exhibition, including 712 award-winning pieces and 523 works featured in exchange showcases. Both the scale and international reach of the festival set new records.
At this major international event, the Academy of Film and Creative Technology (AFCT) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University achieved remarkable success, securing two Gold Awards, three Silver Awards, three Bronze Awards and one Special Award. AFCT entries also received the festival’s highest distinction, the National Assembly Member Grand Prize, while the University was honoured with the Best Organisational Contribution Award, showcasing the Academy’s growing strength in integrating AI-driven innovation with creative arts education.
BIAF, the abbreviation for the Busan International Art Festival, is a global platform dedicated to advancing cultural and artistic development, fostering international exchange and collaboration, supporting high-level societal progress, and elevating artistic expression across the global community. The festival engages schools, universities, and artists worldwide through activities spanning art, design, digital art, and digital media, including work exhibitions, competitions, student and faculty showcases, artist exchanges, and academic forums.
By igniting global artistic enthusiasm and bringing together creative inspiration, BIAF promotes multicultural artistic dialogue, enhances the creative expression and technical capabilities of design practitioners, and supports designers and artists in achieving continuous breakthroughs in AI-driven and digital visual arts. It has become one of the most influential international festivals in the field of creative and contemporary arts.
As an invited guest, Professor Qian Liu, Dean of the Academy of Film and Creative Technology (AFCT), delivered a speech at the festival’s opening ceremony and, together with Dr David Lowden and Dane Taylor, both faculty members at AFCT, participated in the International Culture and Arts Forum held at Tongmyong University. The panel explored topics such as the originality of AI-generated content, the ethical boundaries of creative practice, and the ways in which technology can empower traditional art forms, offering the international arts community a cross-cultural and multidisciplinary perspective.
At this year’s festival, multiple works from XJTLU’s Academy of Film and Creative Technology were shortlisted and received awards across several categories, including AIGC visual arts, digital video and animation. The major awards include:
National Assembly Member Grand Prize
Best Organisational Contribution Award
Among the highlights was the Gold Award-winning work “Mirror,” created by Jiatong Sun, Rongchen Chu, and Shuhan Zhang, which examines “how AI perceives human civilisation” by positioning AI as a “third-person mirror” and adopting a non-linear narrative to traverse key stages of human history. Originating from a classroom project and later refined over the summer with advanced AI-generated imagery, the work showcases the team’s philosophical depth and artistic ambition. “We wanted AI to be more than a tool—to become a mirror that reflects civilisation itself,” said Sun.
Breaking away from traditional notions of “portraiture”, the piece constructs a collective portrait of humanity through the arc of civilisation, maintaining a balance between narrative clarity, visual expression and conceptual restraint. A range of AI tools enabled the team to overcome technical limitations, while guidance from Biwei Cong and Dr Yang Liu played a crucial role in shaping the structure, pacing and technical execution.
“No matter how advanced the tools become, they can never replace the creator’s humanistic thinking,” Sun added. “AI simply helps us express our ideas more fully.” The work ultimately secured both the Gold Award and the prestigious National Assembly Member Grand Prize.
The following are the award-winning works from the Academy:
Gold Award
Mirror
International AICG Visual Art Competition
Creators: Jiatong Sun, Rongchen Chu, Shuhan Zhang
Supervisors: Biwei Cong, Yang Liu
Introduction: "When AI, as an otherworldly life form, gazes at humanity from a third-person perspective, our civilisation is reflected as a mirror, constructing the Portrait 4.0 of humanity and prompting us to face ourselves anew. What is being observed is a path of evolving belief, from nature worship and religious power to secular rule, and ultimately to the rationality of capitalism and data. Each step represents the creation of gods, idols, and images, along with self-construction. The film unfolds through the meditation of a sage, who, as a mirrored character for the audience, silently traverses through historical fragments, forming a non-linear temporal loop. The work itself is also structured as a mirror, guiding the audience to gaze at themselves while watching, reflecting the dual meaning of "mirror" and "portrait."
The Humble Administrator's Garden Digital Cultural Tourism
ICAC International Creative Art Competition (Digital Video)
Creator: Yifan Ai
Supervisor: Fang Liu
Introduction: The Humble Administrator's Garden Digital Cultural Tourism project reimagines the beauty of classical gardens through technological innovation. Utilising the powerful real-time rendering capabilities of Unreal Engine (UE), we have created a millimetre-accurate digital twin of Suzhou's Humble Administrator's Garden, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The project not only faithfully recreates the garden's scenic landscape with its pavilions, towers, and winding waterways, but also pioneers a dynamic seasonal cycle and living ecosystem simulation. Users can immerse themselves in the vibrant blossoms of spring, the lush canopy of summer, the colourful foliage of autumn, and the snow-draped tranquillity of winter, while spontaneously encountering birds flitting through groves and fish swimming in ponds - experiencing the vibrant charm of nature. This represents not only the digital preservation of cultural heritage but also a profound exploration of cultural tourism that transcends temporal and spatial boundaries, allowing this millennia-old garden to radiate renewed vitality in the digital realm.
Silver Award
Empty
ICAC International Creative Art Competition (Animation)
Creator: Sichang Liang
Supervisor: Fang Liu
Introduction: "Empty" tells the poignant story of a young girl compelled to abandon her personal passions under academic pressure and parental expectations, focusing solely on her studies. Upon finally achieving her educational goals, she finds herself plunged into profound confusion, devoid of life direction. This animation offers a critical examination of the importance of holistic personal development, challenging the limitations of a singular growth model, and emphasising that only through multifaceted development can one construct a complete sense of self.
Root
ICAC International Creative Art Competition (Animation)
Creators: Sitong Liu, Jiayi Qian, Qianyi Tang, Yao Xue, Zhiyan Zhang
Supervisor: Yang Liu
Introduction: Root is a short visual effects film created in response to the theme “Two AI: Artificial Intelligence & Artistic Intelligence.” The story follows a small digital fish that represents the human user of AI technologies. As the fish swims through a series of abstract environments—symbolising various aspects of artificial intelligence such as computational system, data cave, and a central “mother” system—it joyfully interacts with these spaces, unaware that it is gradually being consumed by them. In the final scene, the fish disappears entirely, leaving only its skeleton behind.
This narrative serves as a metaphor for the complex and often unbalanced relationship between human creativity and AI. While the fish believes it is actively participating in creation, it is ultimately offering itself as fuel to a system that absorbs rather than collaborates. The project reflects on current concerns surrounding authorship, artistic agency, and the hidden costs of embracing AI as a creative tool.
AWAKEN
ICAC International Creative Art Competition (Animation)
Creators: Siyao Liu, Zilan Zhou, Yanru Lai, Kangyu Zhu, Qianyu Qiao
Supervisor: Yang Liu
Introduction: AWAKEN is a 3D animated short film focusing on the awakening of artificial intelligence. In a futuristic city swallowed by ruins, a memory-lost robot unexpectedly comes back to life. As it explores the remnants of human civilisation, it gradually learns to understand emotions and art, before collapsing into shutdown at the moment of awakening. Yet, the cry of a newborn baby echoes through the silence, leaving a faint hope for this seemingly ended world.
The film centres on the concept of “2AI” — Artificial Intelligence and Artistic Intelligence, exploring whether art can become the only bridge of communication when AI loses its ability to understand humanity.
Using symbolic storytelling, the film builds a world where the communication between robots and humans has broken down, through visual elements such as graffiti diaries, broken statues, and glitched texts. In this silent state, images and art become the only possible medium of connection between robots and the lost human world. The quiet, fragmented ruins of the city symbolise the desolation of technology when stripped of human care. Through the robot’s gradual perception of images, symbols, and art, the film metaphorically shows the regeneration of emotion and understanding. Here, art is no longer just an aesthetic form, but an emotional and cognitive medium across the gap of disconnection. The open ending invites reflection on a post-technological world — when order collapses and language fails, can art and emotion still serve as the most primal bond that connects us?
Bronze Award
DEFENDER
ICAC International Creative Art Competition (Animation)
Creator: Boyang Lin
Supervisor: Fang Liu
Introduction: “DEFENDER” This saga unfolds in the mechanical world of Pandora. Human greed triggered excessive energy exploitation, and environmental deterioration ultimately spawned civilisation-devouring horrors. The highly advanced civilisation fell into ruin, with monsters ravaging the entire planet, yet the ember of civilisation was never extinguished.
This production innovatively blends traditional Chinese armour design with cyberpunk aesthetics, employing 3D animation to vividly depict protagonist Talandar's epic journey as he enters the Ancestral Altar, inherits ancient armour, and becomes the definitive guardian of civilisation.
In Auction
ICAC International Creative Art Competition (Animation)
Creators: Xinran Mao, Jiahan Teng, Yunxi Cai, Tian’ai Zhang
Supervisor: Yang Liu
Introduction: This is a short animated film that explores the themes of artificial intelligence and artistic intelligence. Set within an auction house that transcends time, the fate of a single painting reflects the obsession and disillusionment with art and value across three distinct eras.
In an era devoid of artificial intelligence, a genuine painting, infused with the artist's soul and lifeblood, goes unnoticed at an auction, ending in quiet obscurity. When the world enters a golden age of AI, a visually similar yet algorithmically generated artwork sparks a frenzy of bidding, turning the auction into a raucous spectacle. However, the revelry comes to an abrupt halt. A sudden explosion shatters everything, reducing the era to ruins. In the desolate post-AI world, the once-revered AI-generated painting lies ignored amidst the rubble. People now scavenge like predators for the scattered, charred remnants of AI components, seeing them as the new symbols of value.
In the end, a lingering irony is revealed: the artwork within the frame is in a constant, silent state of flux and transformation... as if mocking the presumptuous aesthetics and beliefs of each era. When artificial intelligence becomes the agent of creation, what, then, constitutes eternal art?
Terra Incognita
ICAC International Creative Art Competition (Digital Video)
Creator: Quan Weng
Supervisor: Yang Liu
Introduction: Emerging from the remnants of an ancient human civilisation, a new society has taken root on this planet, where organic life and mechanical beings are intricately intertwined. This digital video primarily aims to visually explore the concept of a world where ecology and machinery coexist. Set in a vast and perilous alien realm, the story follows a protagonist driven by curiosity to embark on a journey of discovery.
Congratulations to all the award-winning student and staff teams!
The outstanding performance of XJTLU’s Academy of Film and Creative Technology at the 2025 Busan International Art Festival highlights the University’s achievements and growing international competitiveness in digital visual culture, AI-driven art and creative technology in the new era.
The Academy will continue to advance a cross-disciplinary creative ecosystem, nurturing future-facing talent with global perspectives and technical vision, and contributing to the innovation of visual culture and arts education worldwide.
By Wenzhen Li
Photos provided by Biwei Cong, Yang Liu and Fang Liu
19 Nov 2025