This course is designed around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) and explores how storytelling and audiovisual media can contribute to peacebuilding and coexistence through dialogue rather than confrontation. In a global context marked by increasing polarization, cultural misunderstanding, and media-driven conflict, the ability to communicate across differences has become an urgent and essential skill.

Drawing inspiration from the visual narrative traditions of the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang—a major cultural heritage site along the ancient Silk Road—the course examines how allegorical storytelling, visual communication, and artistic practice have historically facilitated cultural exchange and mutual understanding across diverse civilizations. These narrative traditions are approached strictly as cultural, literary, and visual resources, not as religious instruction, and are used to demonstrate how stories can address conflict through patience, metaphor, and ethical reflection rather than opposition.

Through interdisciplinary case studies in visual art, literature, film, sound, animation, and ethnographic media, students explore how storytelling functions as a dialogical practice that encourages listening, empathy, and coexistence. The course emphasizes collaborative and project-based learning, with mixed groups of local and international students working together to respond creatively to contemporary peace-related challenges.

Each teaching day combines a short lecture with extended workshops, dialogue sessions, and studio practice. From the first day of the course, students maintain a Visual Communication Journal to document observations, ideas, sketches, audiovisual experiments, and reflective thinking as part of a continuous learning process.

By the end of the course, students will produce an original storytelling work using a medium of their choice—such as video, sound, animation, visual narrative, or mixed media—and will be able to articulate the cultural, ethical, and creative considerations behind their work. Students can expect an intensive, hands-on learning experience that integrates cultural heritage, contemporary media practice, and global responsibility.

Instructor 1（PI）

Wen‑Shing Ho (ScD) is a filmmaker, sonic artist, and academic leader with more than two decades of experience in creative media education and practice-led research. She founded the digital filmmaking program at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Art, Design and Media (2005–2010) and later co-founded the USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry (ICCI) in Shanghai, where she served as Academic Director of the Master of Cinema program and established the 4D Cinematic Art & Technology Lab.

Dr. Ho received her Doctor of Science from Waseda University; her dissertation on digital cinema and the compositional influence of Maurice Ravel and Tōru Takemitsu was selected for MIT Press’s Leonardo Abstracts Service. Her films—blending live action, stop-motion animation, photography, and sonic art—have been officially selected at major international festivals including Cannes, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Torino Film Lab, and Taipei Golden Horse. She is currently a tenured associate professor specializing in cinematic experimentation and transcultural storytelling.

Instructor 2:

Ouchul Hwang is a South Korean painter, filmmaker, writer, sculptor, and poet, born in 1963. Inspired by his father, he began painting, drawing, and reading literature in early childhood, forming a lifelong commitment to artistic practice. He studied fine art at Seoul National University, pursued graduate studies at New York University, completed an MFA at Pratt Institute in the United States, and earned a Doctor of Science from Waseda University’s Graduate School of Global Information and Telecommunication Studies in Tokyo.

Hwang is a prolific interdisciplinary artist who has produced more than 2,000 works across painting, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, poetry, illustrated books, and screenwriting. His practice is marked by strong sensory intensity and autobiographical depth, shaped by travel and cross-cultural encounters. His visual works have been exhibited internationally in South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, and Europe, and are widely collected. As a filmmaker, his projects have been officially selected and awarded at major international film festivals.

Storytelling and narrative design

Visual and audiovisual communication skills

Cross-cultural collaboration

Dialogue-based creative practice

Ethical reflection on peace and coexistence

Lecture (1 hour) + Workshop / Dialogue / Project-Based Learning (3 hours)

Attendance & Participation: 20%

Visual Communication Journal (process-based): 30%

Group Storytelling Project: 40%

Final Reflection Summary: 10%

Dr. Wen-Shing HO  drho@sjtu.edu.cn