2023 亚洲艺术品金融论坛（第八届）

Asia Art & Finance Forum 2023 (The 8th Edition)

暨“人文引领新财富·数字赋能新消费”高峰论坛 

Humanity leads new wealth and digital empowers new consumption Summit Forum

What fascinates me more, when we speak about new technologies and the digital world, is that they represent an unprecedented opportunity for Mankind to share the past. Thanks to digitalization, we allow a relic of history to stand forever, virtually, to be seen, and studied and admired and loved, even worshipped, when the physical object will already be destroyed. And, this digital print can be multiplied uncountably, and reach the farthest lands in the world. This way, different cultures have a precious opportunity to understand each other better and closer, and to ROOT mutual understanding, so that we see more clearly that we share a common future.

当我们谈起新技术与数字世界时，令我深深震撼的是它们能提供给全人类一个共同分享过去的前所未有的机会。得益于数字化，那些实体已消亡的历史与文化遗存得以永久地伫立，并得以被人们瞻仰、研究、欣赏与崇拜。同时，这些数字化文化遗产可以成倍增加，并遍及世界上最远的地方。以此，不同的文化就有了一个宝贵的机会得以更好地、更密切地相互了解，从而使我们更加清楚地看到，我们拥有共同的未来。

This, in theory. Still, we see conflicts developing all over the world, making innocents on both sides suffer, and blocking the development of nations, if not even downgrading the conditions of entire countries to underdevelopment. How is it possible. Never before mankind had such opportunities to communicate, and never we have been so unable to understand each other. One of the reasons is that sometimes we forget the meaning of communication.

当然，理论上是如此。然而，我们依旧看到世界各地产生着各种冲突，使无辜者遭受困苦，并阻碍当地的发展，更有甚者致使整个国家的状况降至不发达。为何会如此呢，人类从来没有像现在这样有机会交流，也从来没有像现在这样无法相互理解。其中一个原因是，我们有时会忘记沟通的意义。

To communicate is not just merely to inform. To communicate is to transfer the values which one believes in, and to testify credibly that they are real values. Such is for patriotism, for each one of us, respect for the authority, respect for the planet, and before that respect for the people. That respect which is the first step for love. Now, I have a story to tell you about this, meaning about this transfer of love for ancient and everlasting believing, together with ancient, nearly ancestral forms of art, thanks to digital arts and NFT technology.

沟通与交流不仅仅是传达信息。沟通是传递我们所坚信的价值观并证明其拥有真正的价值。对我们每个人而言，我们应当尊重权威、尊重我们所居住的地球，而在此之前，我们应当尊重所有人民。而这种尊重，则是爱的第一步。现在，我想讲述一个与此有关的故事，一个将爱体现在对于永恒信仰、以及古老艺术上的故事，这一切也与数字艺术技术有关。

As some of us in this hall already know, a distinguished member of this community, and a dear friend of mine, has been the giver of the most original gift that has ever been conceived, last March 2023. This friend is Mr. Xiao Wu Nan, a patriot, an expert in many disciplines, and a man of deep culture. On the occasion of a public Audience of Pope Francis, in the Vatican, he donated to the Pope the first NFT in history to have been created with a sacred religious content, yes, the first in the world.

正如我们在场的一些人已经知道的那样，在此的一位杰出成员，也是我的一位亲爱的朋友，于2023年3月赠送了有史以来最具原创性的礼物。这位朋友就是肖武男先生，他是一位爱国志士，多门通才，文化底蕴深厚。他在梵蒂冈会见教皇方济各时，向教皇捐赠了历史上第一个带有神圣宗教内容的NFT，是的，这是世界上第一个。

The NFT represents the pattern of the fabric used for the Mantle of a predecessor of Pope Francis, who was Saint John Paul II. Pope John Paul II used this Mantle on the occasion of the opening of the Jubilee of the year 2000, in Christmas night of 1999, which was the most solemn ceremony of Christianhood in the 20th century. This single NFT, I repeat, represents just the pattern of a fabric, but this pattern is of high symbolic value, for the design of it, representing the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible, for the materials and colors of which it has been done, for the history of its creation and, of course, for the occasion of use.

这件NFT展现了教皇方济各的前任，即圣约翰保罗二世的斗篷所使用的织物的图案。1999年圣诞夜，教皇约翰·保罗二世在2000年禧年开幕之际穿戴着这件披风，而这是20世纪基督教最庄严的仪式。我想在此重申，这件NFT只展现了一种织物的图案，但这种图案具有很高的象征意义，其设计，包括它所使用的材料与颜色、制作过程与使用场合，都象征了圣经的最后一本书：《启示录》。

This NFT has the certified, huge value of 24 million euros. As a precise desire of the Pope, expressed to Mr. Xiao Wu Nan, this value is intended exclusively to support Pope's Charity. You can read the whole story on the website of the Taylor’s firm, Xregio.com, and you can read there also the story of this incredible Taylor’s firm, based in the campaign close to Venice, operating only with ancient techniques of religious art.

该NFT认证价值高达2400万欧元。而正如教皇向肖武男先生表达的愿望一样，这一价值将专门用于支持教皇的慈善事业。各位可以在编制此织物的服装定制公司网站上Xregio.com上阅读到完整的故事，同时，你也可以在那里读到有关该公司的令人惊叹的发展历程，它邻近威尼斯，只采用用于宗教艺术的古老技法。

What inspires me here is the apparent paradox that such a unique action has been accomplished by a non-Christian person, a philosopher, sure, a lover of wisdom, but a person living miles away from Rome and the Pope and the Church itself. Still, an NFT representing a sacred texture, and that texture representing the Apocalypse, well, this did the miracle of value sharing, even from very distant cultures. The love for mankind, the preservation from destruction and in spite the hope and faith for an everlasting happiness, this is something so deeply rooted in our minds and hearts that no matter at all if you are a believer or not, you'll love to feel this way.

在这一故事中启发我的似乎是一个有些矛盾的事实：捐赠此NFT这一独特的举动是由一非基督徒完成的，他是一名博学多才、热爱智慧的智者，然而，他本身却也远离罗马、教皇和教会本身。尽管如此，这件描绘着一种神圣纹理的，寓意着《启示录》的NFT，正展现了价值共享的奇迹，即使我们彼此相处在非常遥远的文化中。无论你是否有宗教信仰，对于人类的爱、守护珍贵之物免于破坏、以及对永恒幸福的希望和信念，都深深扎根于我们的思想和心中。

And this creates communion, which means sharing, deep sharing, comprehension. And respect.No matter how difficult times we are facing, that single fact, reported by the international press, brought a great contribution to understand at a glance that China is a modern and broad-minded country, at the top front of universal Mecenatism, which means the universal promotion of arts.

这一共同的情感创造了交流，也意味着分享、理解与尊重。而正如媒体所报道的，无论我们现在面临着如何困难的时代，中国都是一个现代化的、海纳百川的国家，也是站在共建人类命运共同体前沿的国家，也是在文化与艺术的推广过程中做出了重要贡献的国家。

China has shown itself not just ready to answer to cultural challenges, but ready to cast new challenges, putting together ancient and modern, sacred and laic, west and east, technology and ancient forms of art. This is what I mean when I say “communicate”. Digital cannot be just a faster way to share information. When digital is applied to deep values, such as in art, philosophy, or even religion, it becomes the highway to understanding, and so to respect, and to peace.

中国已经证明，她已经准备应答与迎接新的文化挑战，将古代与现代、神圣与世俗、东方与西方、传统与革新的艺术形式进行融合与发展。这就是我所说的“交流”。数字技术不仅仅是一种更快的信息共享方式。当数字应用于艺术、哲学甚至宗教等深层价值时，它就成为通往理解、尊重和和平的道路。

Let all of us be a part of such a precious, and most needed, peace building opera. Thank you！

让我们所有人都参与到这场弥足珍贵的和平发展史诗中来。谢谢！