New initiative to combine sports, art, culture with cloud
technology to create optimal first impression for
travelers
TOKYO, Jan. 16, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Alibaba Group
(NYSE: BABA and HKEX: 9988), as a Worldwide Partner for the
Olympic Games, unveiled its "Alibaba Cloud Gallery" at Narita
Airport, a creative campaign with budding Japanese artists to
create a memorable first impression for travelers when they first
step into one of the world's busiest airports. This is a
collaboration with Narita Airport to provide a great platform for
local talent to showcase their creativity, passion for the local
culture and desire to express themselves with digital art. The art
creation will be shown on digital screens along nine walkways in
Terminals One and Two of Arrival at the Narita Airport.
The announcement took place at a Tokyo media conference today, which was
attended by Masaaki Komiya, Vice Director General of the Tokyo
Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games;
Chris Tung, Alibaba Group Chief
Marketing Officer; as well as Noriko
Kinouchi and Shoichi Okumura,
two Japanese artists who are in collaboration with Alibaba on the
art creation.
Through these creative pieces with the rising Japanese artists,
the campaign aims to combine sports, art, culture with cloud
technology to enhance the experience of the Olympic Games, the
world's biggest global sports event. The campaign will be launched
in March 2020 and will carry out
until the end of March 2021 to
welcome travelers passing through Narita Airport. The entire
collection of digital art will feature different styles of Japanese
culture and history, aspiring athletes, as well as Alibaba's cloud
technology support to make this year's Olympic Games more engaging
and exciting than ever.
"Alibaba Group has always been committed to bringing a broader
stage and brighter future to the young generation, who are full of
entrepreneurship and infinite creativity by leveraging technology.
The Alibaba Cloud Gallery is a perfect combination of this vision
and the Olympic spirit," said Chris
Tung, Alibaba Group Chief Marketing Officer. "The
Alibaba Cloud Gallery at Narita Airport, which consists of digital
art presented by local Japanese artists, is the first of our
efforts to elevate the experience of spectators traveling from
across the globe to watch the Games. As this also marks our third
anniversary as a Worldwide Partner, we are thrilled to be working
with professional organizations such as Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee to
transform Tokyo 2020 into a
digitally-advanced event, while keeping the essence of the Olympic
spirit."
"We want to thank you for the support from Alibaba Group to
Tokyo 2020. As a member of The
Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme, Alibaba
Group is committed to bringing digital innovation to Tokyo 2020. With the latest technologies from
Alibaba Cloud, the Alibaba Could
Gallery will be a showcase of young Japanese talent creation.
Tourists from all over the world can feel the charm of Japanese
culture, the inspiration of artists, and the atmosphere of
Tokyo 2020 from the moment they
step into the Narita Airport. We are looking forward to embracing
more Alibaba Group's innovative initiatives blended with Japanese
elements and hope to present to the world the most exciting
Olympics experience," said Masaaki
Komiya, Vice Director General of the Tokyo Organising
Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"We are excited to support the digital artwork display at Narita
Airport with Alibaba Cloud's
technology. Through our high-performance, secure and robust data
intelligence platform, artists can handle a large amount of images
and visual elements at ease; while they can also share progress
updates and enjoy efficient communications with each other during
such a large-scale campaign," said Unique Song, Country Manager
of Alibaba Cloud Japan. "We aim to empower budding artists with
our cloud resources. In the near future, we hope to introduce more
leading AI tools and multi-media solutions that have been proven
successful in Alibaba's ecosystem – such as 3D modeling, smart
video editing and posture recognition to assist the youth in
Japan with their inspiration and
creation."
Noriko Kinouchi, one of
the local artists participating at the campaign, commented, "I
am excited to be part of the Alibaba Cloud Gallery, which provides
me with an opportunity to present the beauty of Japanese
traditional culture, art, history as well as the promising future
of the new-generation athletes. By leveraging the latest cloud
technology, I think the digital artwork at Narita Airport would be
intriguing and engaging for global travelers coming into
Tokyo."
Shoichi Okumura, another
participating Japanese artist, said, "Cloud is the key to breaking
the mystery of time and space in traditional Japanese painting.
With the help of advanced tools and cutting-edge technologies from
Alibaba Cloud, I can communicate
with people from all over the world through my work displaying in
the Alibaba Cloud Gallery at the Narita Airport. Tourists coming
from different cultures will be able to encounter Japanese
traditions through digital art supported by Alibaba Cloud. I feel privileged to be a part of
the team and am looking forward to creating more art pieces with
this project."
Marking the third anniversary of Alibaba's strategic partnership
with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Group also
unveiled a brand-new logo signifying this year's theme of
supporting the young generations as the future with Alibaba's
technology. The new logo underlined the company's commitment to
supporting the Olympic Games with its cloud technology and
expertise in digital commerce, as an effort to make the Games more
appealing and relevant to the new generations.
Alibaba announced a 12-year partnership in 2017 as an Olympic
Worldwide Partner, and 2020 will be its third anniversary as a
worldwide partner for the biggest global sports event. Earlier the
company announced its cloud technology support for "Make The
Beat!", a project by the Tokyo
2020 Organising Committee to fuse sound, technology and social
media to allow global fans to cheer for their favorite teams and
athletes.
About Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group's mission is to make it easy to do business
anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of
commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live
at Alibaba, and that it will be a company that lasts for 102
years.
Media Contacts
Luica Mak
Alibaba
Group
+44
7905471332
luica.mak@alibaba-inc.com
|
Crystal
Liu
Alibaba
Group
+852 6378
5626
crystal.liu@alibaba-inc.com
|
Claire
Zhao
Alibaba
Group
+852 6685
9151
yanan.z@alibaba-inc.com
|
Photo -
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1077847/Alibaba_Group_Chief_Marketing_Officer_Chris_Tung.jpg
Photo -
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1077849/The_attending_guests_cut_the_ribbon.jpg
Photo -
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1077848/Alibaba_Group_Chief_Marketing_Officer_Chris_Tung.jpg
Logo -
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1077846/New_Olympic_Partnership_logo.jpg
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1077850/Logo.jpg