In this SPARKS Exchange, artist and educator Lipeng Jin invites you into the story of the “Healing Garden”—an evolving eco-art and pedagogical experiment at the Sichuan Fine Art Institute, China. More than a campus garden, the Healing Garden is a living laboratory reimagining the university’s role in an era of ecological crisis: How can higher education become a force for planetary healing and community renewal?
Drawing inspiration from Thomas Berry’s vision of the University as a bridge to the Universe, the Healing Garden brings the living world—soil, water, plants, animals, and people—into the heart of academic life. The project moves beyond symbolic gestures, engaging students and faculty in hands-on acts of ecological and social repair: composting campus waste into fertile earth, co-creating mandala gardens and mobile chicken coops, and transforming kitchens into spaces of communal care and ritual. Through practices of permaculture, social sculpture, and deep listening, the Healing Garden models a “future university” as a sensory organ and steward for its local bioregion, nurturing both inner and outer landscapes.
Join us to explore how art, ecology, and education can converge to cultivate hope, resilience, and belonging in our time of planetary transition.
SPARKS Exchange is a monthly online gathering that features a presentation by and dialogue with an artist, as well as an interactive art exchange in which attendees have the opportunity to participate in an activity that sparks their creativity. Click here to learn more about or join the SPARKS Cohort.
Featuring
Lipeng Jin
Lipeng Jin is an Associate Professor at the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SCFAI), specializing in socially and ecologically engaged art. As the founder of the Healing Garden eco-art initiative and a member of The Ecoartist-list network, Jin explores the transformative potential of art in fostering ecological and social renewal. He is the author of Ecological Art, reflecting his contributions to the field’s evolving discourse. The Healing Garden project has gained widespread recognition through exhibitions at major venues, including the Chengdu Biennale, the Power Station of Art (PSA) in Shanghai, the China Academy of Art, the Yuelai Art Museum in Chongqing, and the Yuan Art Museum. In addition to his artistic practice, he has curated major international ecological art events in Chongqing, including the 2023 exhibition “Emergence: Ecoart Actions on the Climate Crisis.”
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Disclaimer: This event is open to the public and will be recorded. If you choose to enable your camera or participate in any discussions, your voice and likeness will be recorded, and may be posted on the Center for Process Studies websites and social media, or included in CPS materials and/or publications for noncommercial purposes. If you do not want your voice or likeness to be shared in any public venues, please send an email to optout@ctr4process.org.
