OGE Nexus: Silk Road

Professional Development

OGE Nexus: Arts-based Research, Following the Silk Road in China

August 7 - 17, 2025

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Program Description:

This course traces a fragment of the Silk Road beginning and ending in Xi’an—home of the Eighth Wonder of the World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site—exploring historical, cultural, and geographic continuities along this ancient trading network. Participants will visit major heritage sites including the Terracotta Warriors, the ancient art of the Mogao Grottoes, and modern art installations and sculpture, as well as engaging with iconic landscapes such as the Echoing Sand Dunes, Crescent Moon Spring, and the Gobi Desert. Through these encounters, students will explore themes of movement, exchange, and cultural production across time.

At multiple sites, students will interact with artists and residents, engaging in various art-making practices such as bread sculpture, mask drawing, and incense making. Throughout, students will consider tangible and intangible features of heritage and will utilize arts-based research and multimodal scholarship to produce a final project reflecting their experience.

Students will explore the complex history of the material, cultural, and artistic practices along the silk road through arts-based research. Themes will include the intersections of the contemporary and the traditional, the local and the global, the analogue and the digital, the rural and the urban, and how these themes are expressed in both tangible and intangible aspects of Chinese heritage.

About OGE Nexus

OGE Nexus is a new global platform under the Office of Global Engagement at Teachers College, Columbia University, dedicated to programs that sit at the intersection of study abroad and professional development. Designed in close collaboration with our academic partners around the world, these programs offer immersive, short-term learning experiences that combine academic insight with real-world application.

Offered in international settings, OGE Nexus programs are open to TC students and alumni, as well as local and regional participants in the host countries. Each program is shaped by shared expertise, local context, and global relevance—creating meaningful opportunities for cross-cultural learning, collaboration, and professional growth.

Dates: August 7 - 17, 2025

Format: In Person

Program Fee Options

With shared accommodation (double occupancy): $3,000
With private accommodation (single occupancy): $3,500
Without accommodation: $2,500

Discounted Rates for TC Students and Alumni

With shared accommodation (double occupancy): $2,700
With private accommodation (single occupancy): $3,200
Without accommodation: $2,200

The program cost includes:

Tuition fees
Certificate of completion
Access to TC’s online platform and course materials
Intercity transportation via high-speed train (second-class seats between Xi’an, Dunhuang, and Zhangye)
Local transportation in Xi’an and Gansu via air-conditioned vehicles, including one airport pickup (arrival day) and one drop-off (departure day)
Optional accommodation in international-standard hotels (see pricing options above)
Entrance fees and guided tours to major cultural and historical sites, including the Terracotta Warriors (with audio guide), Tang Paradise, Mogao Caves, Zhangye Danxia, Jiayuguan Fortress, and more (optional activities not included)
9 breakfasts and 7 lunches (each lunch valued at ¥80 per person)
Professional tour guide service throughout the program
Travel agency liability insurance and additional travel accident injury insurance in compliance with national regulations

For more information, questions or to register: Email tcacademy@tc.columbia.edu

Instructor(s)

Chris Moffett, Ph.D., is a Research Scholar at the Digital Futures Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University, working across philosophy, education, art, and technology. He has taught both Art Education, and the Foundations of Art & Design. Current research includes work on play-based early-childhood learning in Anji, China, as well as comparative approaches to aesthetics and technology. Dr. Moffett is a Founding Member of the artist collective ARE, exploring the intersection between movement, sensation, and aesthetic practices. ARE has taught workshops for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Festival of Ideas for the New City and the Guggenheim Museum, the Noguchi Museum, DIA:Beacon, and collaborated with FormLab at the Inside Outside Museum in Beijing, amongst other projects.

Jun Hu, PhD, Dean of A/r/tography Research Center, & Professor of Art Education, Faculty of Fine Art at Hangzhou Normal University, considers himself an a/r/tographer: residing in the liminal spaces in-between the artist, the researcher and the teacher; drawing inspiration and developing knowledge out of their mutual transformation. He is World Counselor (2017-2019, 2023-2025) and Chair of the Asian Regional Council (2019-2024) of the International Society for Education through Art (InSEA), as well as executive editor of the journal of Creative Arts Education and Therapy (CAET). His research interests include cross-cultural dialogue and multimodal scholarship for opening up the potential of art education to enhance human welfare.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

Increase intercultural awareness
Develop familiarity with Chinese artistic traditions as they exist in an ever-evolving cultural context
Develop of their own arts-based, a/r/tographic, and multi-modal methods of research

Who Should Attend

This program is designed for students, educators, practitioners, and professionals from a wide range of disciplines who are interested in deepening their understanding of cultural heritage, public art, education, and global exchange through experiential learning in China.

Ideal participants include:

Graduate and advanced undergraduate students in education, arts administration, international affairs, cultural studies, museum studies, architecture, urban planning, or related fields
Educators and administrators seeking to expand their global perspectives and incorporate intercultural experiences into their teaching or leadership practice
Artists, curators, and public art professionals interested in learning from China’s rich cultural landscapes and public art installations
TC alumni and international professionals eager to reconnect with Columbia’s academic community while gaining hands-on exposure to historic and contemporary sites across China
Anyone curious about the intersection of education, culture, and place-based learning within the context of the Silk Road

No prior knowledge of China or Chinese language is required. A spirit of curiosity, openness to intercultural dialogue, and enthusiasm for immersive learning are the most important qualifications.

Upon Completion

Participants who successfully complete this course will receive a Certificate of Participation.