Public Speeches
General Info
Master Artist Dr. T.F. Chen is sought after around the globe to speak to audiences of all ages and backgrounds regarding the topics of:
“Art as a Vehicle for World Peace”
“SOULWARE in our 21st Century”
“Five Dimensional World Culture”
“Convergence in the New Millennium”
“A Global New Renaissance in Love”
Since 1980, Dr. Chen has been invited to lecture and exhibit at countless international conferences, museums, cultural centers, educational institutions, lions clubs, universities, etc, such as:
- Universities in the USA: Stanford, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Brown, UCLA
- 19 cultural centers and museums in Taiwan, including exhibitions at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and HsingKwang Mitsukoshi Cultural Hall, Taipei
- The International Scientist Conference (1980)
- The State of the World Forum (1998 and 2000)
- The Artist Association International, Paris
- At the Grand Opening of the Jacob Gelt Dekker Institute for Advanced Cultural Studies in Curacao (2001), where his solo art show occupied the entire museum
- The United Nations (2001)
- The Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP, 2002)
- and countless more.
SPEECH EXCERPTS
Global Tolerance Award Acceptance Speech (excerpt),
at the United Nations, NYC
“As we enter the 3rd Millennium, under the tidalwave of globalization and communication, the whole of humanity faces a common destiny of hope as well as fear: hope for a new era of peace, tolerance, and democracy, at the same time fear of terrorism, sophisticated conflicts, and an endangered global environment. We are now living in an era where the long cherished dream of humanity — building a paradise on Earth — can take center stage – or not, depending on whether our advances in mind can match our progress in science.
Such kind of awareness prevails at all levels due to the high-technology which tightly binds us all in a global network. In the world we live in now, one person can truly make a difference.
In our age of science and technology, with its continuous and accelerated improvement of “Hardware” and “Software,” we must ensure that our existence rests upon an equally progressive and rich foundation of “Soulware.” Under this magnificent context and together with the Friends of the United Nations,I am proud to declare our collective launch of the “Arts for Humanity World Tour” to build a culture of peace and tolerance through the arts. As we travel throughout the world carrying the message of the UN and advancing the conversation of tolerance and peace, I ask you to join us, support us, and participate with us. Let us all be the catalysts for a new paradise on earth, a Global New Renaissance in Love!”
At the State of the World Forum
Standing in front of his huge 7 panel painting (110 x 560”) entitled Towards the 21st Century: Symphony of World Culture, Dr. Chen faced an excited crowd of approx 1,000 esteemed world leaders from 103 countries and gave a speech at closing ceremony of the State of the World Forum, San Francisco, 1998.
“I would like to offer you a new term. In our age of computers and communication, not only do we need hardware and software, but also soul ware, S. O. U. L. Ware. We are creating a new world for a new millennium, a new millennium of a Global Renaissance in Love, of ‘science avec conscience,’ passion with compassion, a new world of hope, love, and unity.”
Dr. Chen’s speech, which was met with rounds of explosive applause, created one of the climaxes at the esteemed State of the World Forum. The Chairman also extended a special invitation to the artist and his wife to be part of the cultural section and join the international gathering of over 1,000 key world leaders in the arenas of business, science, education, politics, and the humanities.
Many of Chen’s magnificent canvases from his “Art for Humanity Series” graced the walls of the roundtable events and enriched the conversations. Chen lectured and exhibited again at the State of the World Forum in 2000.
Artist Association International, Paris
“We need a culture based on LOVE instead of POWER, HUMANISM instead of MATERIALISM, HEART instead of MACHINE, CREATION instead of PRODUCTION, and HAPPINESS instead of WEALTH; a culture of TO BE (and TO LOVE) instead of TO HAVE, not just HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, but also SOULWARE!”
Taiwan Museum of Art, Taiwan
“Entering the 20th century, the well-developed “Four Dimensional Culture of Divergence” produced the most powerful nuclear weapon which put the entire humanity under the threat of total destruction in a few minutes. Out of such a background arises a common and shared consciousness of pursuing a “World Family” in fraternity. Under such a cultural environment and social background is born my view of ‘FIVE DIMENSIONAL UNIVERSAL CULTURE in LOVE.’ What is open in front of us is not merely a new expression in art, the Neo-Iconography which is an aspect of our Post-Modernism in aesthetic creation, but the advent of a NEW RENAISSANCE on a global scale for all humanity, the shared task for our Post-Nuclear Age.”
9th International Conference on the Unity of Sciences, FL
“Neo-I is the beginning of a world art renaissance, which weaves together ICONS, cultural images with symbolic meaning to produce FRESH and PRECISE VISIONS of universal consequence, a new universal culture of the FIFTH DIMENSION combining TIME, SPACE, and CONSCIENCE.”
John Hopkins University, MD
“I belong to a new generation in civilization, a new universal culture in which we are now living which synthesizes a new society for everyone. I am neither Eastern nor Western — I belong to both at the same time, the whole.”
“As we enter the 3rd Millennium, under the tidalwave of globalization and communication, the whole of humanity faces a common destiny of hope as well as fear: hope for a new era of peace, tolerance, and democracy, at the same time fear of terrorism, sophisticated conflicts, and an endangered global environment. We are now living in an era where the long cherished dream of humanity — building a paradise on Earth — can take center stage – or not, depending on whether our advances in mind can match our progress in science.
Such kind of awareness prevails at all levels due to the high-technology which tightly binds us all in a global network. In the world we live in now, one person can truly make a difference.
In our age of science and technology, with its continuous and accelerated improvement of “Hardware” and “Software,” we must ensure that our existence rests upon an equally progressive and rich foundation of “Soulware.” Under this magnificent context and together with the Friends of the United Nations,I am proud to declare our collective launch of the “Arts for Humanity World Tour” to build a culture of peace and tolerance through the arts. As we travel throughout the world carrying the message of the UN and advancing the conversation of tolerance and peace, I ask you to join us, support us, and participate with us. Let us all be the catalysts for a new paradise on earth, a Global New Renaissance in Love!”
At the State of the World Forum
Standing in front of his huge 7 panel painting (110 x 560”) entitled Towards the 21st Century: Symphony of World Culture, Dr. Chen faced an excited crowd of approx 1,000 esteemed world leaders from 103 countries and gave a speech at closing ceremony of the State of the World Forum, San Francisco, 1998.
“I would like to offer you a new term. In our age of computers and communication, not only do we need hardware and software, but also soul ware, S. O. U. L. Ware. We are creating a new world for a new millennium, a new millennium of a Global Renaissance in Love, of ‘science avec conscience,’ passion with compassion, a new world of hope, love, and unity.”
Dr. Chen’s speech, which was met with rounds of explosive applause, created one of the climaxes at the esteemed State of the World Forum. The Chairman also extended a special invitation to the artist and his wife to be part of the cultural section and join the international gathering of over 1,000 key world leaders in the arenas of business, science, education, politics, and the humanities.
Many of Chen’s magnificent canvases from his “Art for Humanity Series” graced the walls of the roundtable events and enriched the conversations. Chen lectured and exhibited again at the State of the World Forum in 2000.
Artist Association International, Paris
“We need a culture based on LOVE instead of POWER, HUMANISM instead of MATERIALISM, HEART instead of MACHINE, CREATION instead of PRODUCTION, and HAPPINESS instead of WEALTH; a culture of TO BE (and TO LOVE) instead of TO HAVE, not just HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, but also SOULWARE!”
Taiwan Museum of Art, Taiwan
“Entering the 20th century, the well-developed “Four Dimensional Culture of Divergence” produced the most powerful nuclear weapon which put the entire humanity under the threat of total destruction in a few minutes. Out of such a background arises a common and shared consciousness of pursuing a “World Family” in fraternity. Under such a cultural environment and social background is born my view of ‘FIVE DIMENSIONAL UNIVERSAL CULTURE in LOVE.’ What is open in front of us is not merely a new expression in art, the Neo-Iconography which is an aspect of our Post-Modernism in aesthetic creation, but the advent of a NEW RENAISSANCE on a global scale for all humanity, the shared task for our Post-Nuclear Age.”
9th International Conference on the Unity of Sciences, FL
“Neo-I is the beginning of a world art renaissance, which weaves together ICONS, cultural images with symbolic meaning to produce FRESH and PRECISE VISIONS of universal consequence, a new universal culture of the FIFTH DIMENSION combining TIME, SPACE, and CONSCIENCE.”
John Hopkins University, MD
“I belong to a new generation in civilization, a new universal culture in which we are now living which synthesizes a new society for everyone. I am neither Eastern nor Western — I belong to both at the same time, the whole.”